RWBY Knight
by STARCRUSHER99
Summary: After an eventful year at Beacon, Teams RWBY and PRN are ready for their 2nd year. But, when Roman Torchwick and the White Fang pick up their work, combined with the mysterious "Arkham Knight", will they be able to prevent the Fall of Vale? Will they finally be able to let go of Jaune's death, or will grief and self-doubt bring them to their knees? Arkham Knight Crossover elements.
1. Vengeance

_"Go! I'll hold them off so you can get out!"_

 _"There's too many! You'll die!"_

 _"I know! Now go!"_

 _"I won't leave you!"_

 _"God damnit, run!"_

So many memories came flooding back. So many memories that she wished weren't real. Memories she wished were all a dream, where she'd wake up, be comforted by her team, and go about her day like nothing had happened.

But all the proof she needed was right in front of her, engraved in stone for all to see.

It had been one year since her team had gone on their first mission outside the kingdoms. It had started simply enough: a sudden Grimm infestation near a village was worrying the settlers, they had to exterminate them.

Then everything fell apart. Immediately after dropping in, a bomb went off near the walls, letting the creatures of darkness into the village. Anarchy befell the colony almost immediately.

Her team had focused on rescuing the civilians, using the bullhead that dropped them off as evacuation. They had split into partners to speed up the process.

However, this meant that when they accidentally startled a large horde of them, they weren't able to fight them.

Her partner...

Her sweet, loving, amazing partner...

He'd ordered her to run, knowing that they would never see each other again. Given no other choice, and with him not taking no for an answer, she'd ran.

Like a coward, at least to her.

When it was time to leave the village for good and he still hadn't arrived, she tried her absolute best to get them to stay. Her team, however, fought just as strongly for them to leave, and in the end she'd collapsed, giving them the chance to leave. The realization had finally hit her.

Her partner was gone. And they didn't even get a body.

"Hey", she spoke to the stone. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could picture it with blonde hair... "I just wanted to check up on you. Sorry it took me all year, but... it's been one stressful year.

Team RWBY is as active as they always were, finding danger everywhere they go. Everytime they get in a fight, they always say they're fighting for you. Even Weiss.

Ruby never got over it. Losing you pretty much stole any innocence she had. She doesn't kill, but she doesn't show mercy either. It's awful. I've seen her leave people with broken bones and missing teeth. The only thing that keeps her the way she was is Yang's cookies, and even then it doesn't always work.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang might not have cried their eyes out, but they've changed as well. Weiss is more of the "Snow Angel" instead of the "Ice Queen", as you would say. Blake's honestly been more open with us then she ever was before. Even Yang stopped teasing anyone that didn't 100% like it. Knowing her, she probably somehow blames herself.

Ren and Nora were able to bounce back fairly quickly. I was a little angry at first, but they told me about how they're orphans and it made sense. You're not the first family they lost.

And me..." the tears finally started to fall on the empty grave. "Where do I begin? You were the greatest thing to ever happen to me. Now you're gone and it's my fault!" The last bit came out as a shout more than anything else as she collapsed on the ground.

"I loved you, you idiot! How could you not see it when it was right in front of your eyes?! You actually saw me as a regular person and not some superhero! I needed you!" She let the tears fall before she mumbled "I still need you".

She couldn't take anymore. She could come back tomorrow anyway. The others would understand. She ran as far away as she could from the empty ground as fast as she could. Anything to get away from the reminder of her failure.

In the clearing she left, a single leaf fell from the trees, landing on the stone.

Jaune Arc

A leader, partner, and friend

A true hero, even if he didn't know it.

* * *

"Ugh, why do we always get the crappy jobs? Investigate White Fang activity? *psh*, they just want us out so the others can actually learn something in combat class.

CRDL was doing a patrol in a nearby village, searching for any leads on the elusive terrorist group. Unfortunately, the mission had been as vague as possible, and none of them were able to figure out where they should go.

"Well, it probably has to do with the fact that we're considered the worst team in Beacon", Dove offered with no hesitation. He regretted it immediately when Cardin punched him to the ground.

"No. We are the best team there, and don't let teams like RWBY or PRN (Prune) say otherwise", Cardin said, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah, at least we still have all our members. Not like JNPR. Their leader literally didn't last a single mission!" Russell joked. They all shared a laugh...

Until a gunshot rang out, sllencing them all.

The streets quickly emptied, showing CDL that this was a regular thing. They turned around to look for the gunman, hoping for the ever elusive lead, but they all froze when they saw Russell.

Russell was stiff as a board, bleeding from a single hole in his chest. Not only was the gunshot aimed at them, but, they realized with horror, it cut through his aura in one shot.

The horror didn't stop there. After about 5 seconds, CDL could only watch as Russell's entire body turned icy blue, with his teeth chattering, until all his movement stopped completely. Still staying completely still, he fell backwards...

And _shattered_ into small ice fragments when he hit the ground.

In around 15 seconds, one of their members had been completely obliterated.

Once they got over their initial shock, CDL armed themselves for a fight and resumed their search for their attacker. They didn't have to look far, as he was only a block behind them.

His appearance was... intimidating. He was wearing a full body set of combat armor, mostly black with hints of red. It covered his entire body, from his shoulders all the way down to his boots. On both his were holsters for a set of twin pistols. But his helmet, glowing blue and seemingly acting as a HUD of some kind, was what drew their attention.

Despite his mere presence making them want to piss themselves, they had a teammate to avenge. So, in true CRDL fashion, they charged straight at him.

The man, completely unfazed, simply walking into the building he was right next to. CDL charged right by the door, tumbling over themselves before they dusted themselves off and entered the building.

They had entered a unlighted two story shipping warehouse, with the bottom floor filled with shipping containers of various shapes and sizes. The top floor was nothing more than an overlook on the containers, presumably for overseers making sure everything was going fine.

Using hand signals, Cardin signaled Dove to go left and Sky to go right before he dropped to the first floor. He weaved through the maze of containers, looking for any sign of his teammate's killer.

Meanwhile, up above, Sky's body fell over with a snapped neck. He didn't even get the chance to scream.

Dove heard the body fall and instinctlively fired across the warehouse. Hearing nothing but a puff that oddly sounded like a smoke bomb, he continued searching...

Until, out of the darkness, a gun barrel was pressed against his head, ending his search with a single shot and a cut off scream.

Cardin might not have been the smartest person alive, but it didn't take a genius to realize what the gunshots followed by a thud meant.

Another teammate was dead, possibly all three.

He was about to call out when he saw him: the man who killed his team, standing near the container in front of him. He was leaning on the container crossing his arms, looking oddly relaxed for a man who killed three Huntsman-in-Training.

Cardin charged forward in a blind rage, swinging his mace for a downward strike. He did not expect the man to simply catch the mace.

The man used his free hand to grab Cardin's mace hand and snap his wrist, loosening his grip. This allowed his mace to be grabbed and tossed out of both of their reach. Still holding his wrist, he pulled down, using the pain to bring Cardin to his knees. Cardin was completely unable to resist.

The man used the advantage to kick Cardin's knee, bending it the wrong way, before letting go of him and watching him writhe on the ground in pain. If his helmet didn't completely hide his face, Cardin would've seen a sociopathic smile on his face.

Finishing the job, the man pulled out of his guns and said the word "vengeance". The voice chilled him to the bone: it was clearly robotically synthesized, but that didn't make it any less intimidating. It gave him the vibe that he wasn't fighting a human. He was fighting a demon.

With his message said, the man executed Cardin on the spot.


	2. A Drunk Detective

"You know, Oz, this isn't what I expected when you said 'utmost importance'."

In Ozpin's office, tension reigned supreme over every other feeling. With no one but Ozpin, Glynda, and Qrow Branwren in a room, that was usually the case. This time, however, it was stronger than any of them had ever felt. The death of an entire team tended to do that.

"It is true though that this is of the utmost importance, Qrow", Ozpin said. He clearly needed his coffee, however in a rare moment his mug was not in his hand. "We needed to know anything we could get from this attacker. Already this person has managed to confuse me to no end."

He wasn't wrong. Even the basis of this case was confusing: A person mercilessly killed an entire team of Huntsmen unprovoked with what appeared to be no resistance. Their auras were still intact, meaning his attacks somehow bypassed, not destroyed, their auras. It could have been a semblance, but one that powerful would have been noticed before now.

In other words, one of the most powerful foes they'd ever encountered had appeared out of thin air.

"Let me tell you, Oz, this one was hell to figure out. No witnesses and the cameras were sabotaged. You're lucky that this guy has an ego."

Glynda sighed. "What does that even mean?"

"Just let me start."

"Before you begin, do you know if this person is an ally of the Queen or if they're a wild card?"

Qrow took a swig of his flask before he continued. "The evidence I collected suggests that this is another one of the Queen's pawns.

Ozpin's eyes briefly widened before he regained his stoic expression. "Very well, Qrow. Please, walk us through what you found.

Qrow stepped forward, putting his scroll on the desk. A projection appeared, making the room appear to be a shipping warehouse. He marked several points on the projection before starting to talk.

"With no other leads, I started by going to the warehouse where the bodies were discovered. I was about to enter, when I felt a faint aura reading. As in weak enough that I could kill the guy in one strike. I couldn't figure out what it was, but I kept it in mind."

"Entering the warehouse put me on the second floor. I went to the right side to the location of Sky Lark's body, right here." He marked a spot on the projection. "Killed by a snapped neck, nothing irregular there. Honestly, as morbid as it sounds, we're not gonna talk about him."

Ozpin and Glynda flinched, but gestured to go on. Clearly this case was affecting them a lot more than he anticipated.

"Across the gap was Dove Bronzewing's body. This is where a lot of speculation comes in. He was killed with a single bullet to the head. With no pulse, I confirmed it, but this is where things get weird. You might wanna sit down, Oz."

Despite the obvious sarcastic tone in his voice, Ozpin took it seriously and sat down at his desk, finally taking a sip out of the mug on the desk. Glynda didn't move from her place.

"The kid was dead, but I could still feel his aura pulsing. Like it was still trying to save them. This guy didn't destroy their auras, he bypassed them. We both know what that means, Oz."

Ozpin was glad he sat down, since he would've collapsed if he was still standing when he said that. It was obvious based on the pure surprise and horror on his face. Glynda, meanwhile, was confused. Even within Ozpin's inner circle, secrets were still kept, so she had to ask: "What does that mean?"

Qrow gave Ozpin a look that clearly said 'you tell her'. Ozpin sighed and rubbed his eyes; clearly, this was not a conversation he wanted to have today. He looked at Qrow, first. "This is how you deduced the assailant to work with the Queen?" Qrow nodded, taking a swig.

He finally turned to Glynda. "You are aware that my own powers function on aura, correct?" She nodded. "You are also aware about the powers that Salem has?" She nodded again. "Well, in the same sense, her powers do not function with aura; rather, a form of demonic energy."

Glynda gasped. She wasn't surprised; of all the legends she knew to be real demonic energy would be high on that list, but the fact that it existed was terrifying. "It's real?!"

Qrow took a swig. "You bet it is. Cuts through aura like butter. It's how Salem's so powerful. To her, aura doesn't even exist. Which brings me to my next point."

"What could the existence of demonic energy possibly segue into?"

"Russell Thrush's body. Remember the faint aura reading I felt outside?" She nodded, starting to get his point. "I think he was disintegrated."

Glynda scoffed. "I may have just found out about it today, but I don't believe demonic energy is strong enough to disintegrate someone."

Qrow tipped his flask to her. "Well, that's why he was disintegrated another way." Swig.

In the background of their conversation he saw Ozpin drop his head and say "When I woke up today, I didn't expect to talk about how one of my students was disintegrated."

Qrow, while respectfully pausing, got right to his point. "I think that he laced some of his bullets with a completely pure ice dust. A shard of that shit could put out a forest fire. Lace a bullet with that, combined with demonic energy, and boom. You have one human popsicle so fragile he shatters on the ground. Now that's all assumption, but it's the best I got."

Once again, the silence in the room was deafening, filled only by the sound of Ozpin writing notes on a notepad. The roughly thirty seconds it took for Ozpin to write his note felt like hours to the other two before he put down his notebook, took another swig from his mug, and gestured to Qrow to continue.

"And last, but dear god certainly not least, is leader Cardin Winchester. This one has a picture, but warning you now, viewer discretion is advised." Ozpin and Glynda both visibly took a deep breath, prepping themselves for what they were about to see.

No amount of preparation could've stopped the gasp that escaped Glynda's mouth. Ozpin grabbed his mug so hard it shattered in his hand.

It was the most gruesome picture either of them had ever seen in their lives. Cardin was hanging from a container, naked, as though on a crucifix, a bullet hole in his head and a grotesque gash in his stomach with blood pouring over his body and the ground. Looking at the next picture revealed what's its purpose was.

On the floor was the words "VENGEANCE FOR THE ARKHAM KNIGHT" written in his blood.

Glynda honestly wanted to throw up, and it looked like Ozpin was no better. They'd seen many people die in their lives, including friends and students, but none of them were even close to this gruesome. The way Cardin's body was mutilated was unlike anything they'd ever seen before. The person that did this was despicable beyond all belief; rest assured he had their attention.

"That's what I meant when I said he has an ego. He apparently goes by 'The Arkham Knight' and isn't trying to hide it. Got any idea what the hell that means?"

The headmaster didn't even turn to Qrow to give him the command. "Get Team JNPR. They need to see this."

* * *

"Are you ever gonna say why you're being so mysterious?"

"Nora, he has a reason. Please don't be rude."

"It's a good question, Renny! All of this 'Ozpin needs to see you stuff', why can't he just explain?"

"Look, all Oz told me was to get you up here. I'm just as in the dark as you are."

This situation had come out of absolute nowhere. One second, they were sitting in their dorm room, business as usual, then the next they were ordered to the Headmasters office for no reason other than "he wants to see you". It was bizarre, yet they all knew that when Ozpin wanted to see you, your number one priority became to go to his office.

Of course, Nora took advantage of the long elevator ride to try to get anything out of Ruby's uncle, but the man was staying his ground. That's how Pyrrha knew he was telling the truth: he had no reason to lie, so why would he?

Nora couldn't continue her barrage of questions before the elevator door opened at Ozpin's office, where the headmaster sat sighing with his head in his hands, Ms. Goodwitch nowhere to be found. It was a unique sight for the trio of students. Ozpin had never shown any emotion in front of them besides indifference, so seeing him act the way he was made all of them, even Nora, stop talking and pay attention.

Ozpin looked up, eyes bloodshot, and noticed who was in the room. He motioned them to the chairs in front of his desk. "Sit. We have much to discuss."

They all sat, a sense of foreboding coming down on all of them. Pyrrha started the talking. "You wanted to see us, professor?"

Ozpin got straight to the point. "I assume you are all aware of the fate of Team CRDL?"

They all grimly nodded. While they may not have liked or even respected the team of bullys, they weren't truly evil people. They didn't deserve death of all things.

"Qrow here," he gestured to the man drinking from a flask, "was the person I chose to investigate the case. It was a very confusing one, but the assailant left a," they all noticed him swallow before he said, "calling card."

He turned on his scroll and put it on his desk, showing a picture to the three of them. They all gasped at the sight of Cardin's body. Of all the fates to befall him, that wasn't what they expected.

It was the words on the next picture though that terrified them. "VENGEANCE FOR THE ARKHAM KNIGHT".

Those words were enough to make Pyrrha cry all over again. She'd thought she'd ran out of tears, but this was all it took for memories to come crashing back down like a truck. Nora and Ren were better at hiding it, but Ozpin could see the pain in their eyes.

He waited for the eternity it took for Pyrrha to stop crying before he continued. "As I'm sure you understand, we believe someone has a grudge against you and used CRDL to draw attention to himself. Do you know of anyone that would be angry at you?"

They shook their heads. "You're 100% certain?" They shook their heads again. Ozpin sighed. "You need to be extremely careful whenever you go off this campus. You must always stay in a team, and you must bring Team RWBY with you. You seven are the strongest first years I've ever seen, and I trust you'd be able to hold this person off long enough for someone from Beacon to arrive. Understood?"

They nodded. "Good. Dismissed." They stood up, and Ozpin stood up as well. "And Pyrrha?" They all stopped at that. Ozpin always called his students by their last names. This was the first time he broke that tradition. She looked back towards him. "I'm sorry to bring back bad memories. Jaune was..."

He drifted off, seeming to stare into the distance out his window, before he sighed and continued on. "Jaune was a great person with an even greater heart that was only matched by his potential as a warrior. I'll never regret giving him a chance at this academy. My only regret is sending you on that mission. I hope you can forgive me."

Of all the things for Ozpin to hold her back for? Asking for forgiveness was not on the list. She continued without hesitation. "It wasn't your fault. We both know it, so don't you dare blame yourself." She managed to hold the tears back that time, but the anger in her tone was obvious.

Everyone in the room knew that it wasn't towards him, but herself. She never did accept that Jaune had asked her to run.

If Ozpin had anything else to say, Pyrrha didn't give him the chance before she walked out of the room, leaving Ozpin and a very confused Qrow.

"Mind telling me what that was all about?"

Ozpin sighed once again. "I take it you are aware of Jaune Arc?"

"Yeah, Rubes told me about him, how he was the first guy she met here. And that he died on a mission last year."

Despite having never met Jaune, Qrow was able to respect him based on what he'd heard of him. He was like a brother to Ruby; his loss had hit her hard.

"Wait a second, how did you know that this Arkham Knight guy wanted to kill his team?"

Ozpin took a sip from his mug before staring out through his window, towards the kingdom he'd vowed to protect.

"Arkham was the name of the village he died in."


	3. Updates

**Hey guys. Just wanted to give an update on my stories. When I first started writing, I didn't really come up with a schedule: I just updated whenever I finished a chapter. Unfortunately, with high school, writers block, and general laziness, I don't write a whole lot. So, I have a plan that will hopefully leave most of you happy. I'm going to only focus on my stories RWBY Knight and A Grimm Tale. I've gotten more positivity from people on those stories than anywhere else, and people are really anxious about them, so I'm gonna write thm before I think about others. I'm sorry if people are disappointed, but that's the plan for now. Thanks for all the support, as well as your time.**


	4. A Knight At The Docks

Blake simply couldn't believe her eyes. She'd been so sure that this couldn't be true, and yet here it was right in front of her.

Down below them was Roman Torchwick, working alongside the White Fang as they stole a dust shipment.

To her left, Sun gave her hand a gentle squeeze; clearly he had been hoping the same thing she had. He'd been the hardest to convince to come with her, but he had caved in when he saw just how desperate she was to prove the Fang's innocence.

To her right, Yang cocked her gauntlets, clearly readying up for a fight. Weiss, meanwhile, was trying to stop both of the sisters from going headfirst into the raid to try to stop it. She was having difficulties before Yang noticed Blake's distress and tried to comfort her instead.

Not that she could hear her; her mind was too far gone to hear any of the brawlers words and encouragement. Instead, she started listening to the people below her, hoping to hear any valuable information. Sun closed his eyes as well, apparently getting the same idea.

"Listen up, you animals! We're on a tight schedule and we can't afford to be late. So move your asses and get it done!"

Just hearing Torchwick speak, especially with that condescending tone of his, was enough to make Blake's blood boil. She wanted nothing more than to go down there and put him in his place, but luckily enough Sun was there keeping her calm. Yang was also holding her in an attempt to soothe her anger, not that it was working.

She noticed a commotion behind a container, and when she turned to look she noticed a White Fang grunt who had to of been a rookie struggling to hold his container of dust. Unfortunately, Torchwick noticed too. Blake watched as he got a malicious smile on his face while walking towards the new recruit, twirling his cane on the way.

"Well, what have we here? Another incompetent animal?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Torchwick! I'll get this container-"

He didn't get to finish, seeing as Torchwick hit him with his cane and knocked him to the ground.

Blake's blood started boiling as anger took her over. Torchwick wasn't even close to finished as he started beating the Faunus with his cane while screaming obscenities at the recruit, the Faunus's screams being heard loud and clear even from the distance they were.

Ruby looked like she wanted to commit a murder, and Weiss seemed to honestly be considering letting her go. Yang and Sun, ironically enough, were the only ones that were keeping level heads in this situation.

Blake had officially lost all patience at this point and was finally about to intervene when she heard another voice. A voice that, despite being spoken through a voice modifier, was still enough to send chills through Blake's very being.

"Now now, Roman. That's no way to treat your underlings."

Out from the bullhead Roman arrived in came another man. Based on appearance, he seemed to be human as well, but past that Blake couldn't see anything thanks to his full body armor.

From his neck all the way down to his combat boots, he was wearing black armor with red tint on the arms. His armor seemed to have enough padding in an attempt to be as bulletproof as possible. He had a pistol holstered on either side of his hips, and if Blake had to guess they seemed to be able to combine to form another weapon that Blake couldn't analyze.

His helmet was a completely different shade of neon blue, with symbols floating all across it. It seemed to act as a sort of heads up display, as Blake could see a map of the district on it, but other than that it seemed to be random symbols.

But it wasn't the armor that made Blake tense up and Yang's temper flare, nor was it the armor that made Ruby gasp and Weiss officially let go of her. It was the symbol on the man's chest; the symbol of Arkham.

This was the man that killed Team CRDL, using the village that Jaune died in as an alias.

Torchwick seemed to melt in the man's presence, immediately hiding the cane behind his back like a child with his hand in the cookie jar. "Ah, I didn't expect her to send you here. How've you been?"

The so-called Arkham Knight chuckled darkly, clearly affecting everyone there, even Torchwick. "You've never been one for pleasantries, Roman. You're either scared or happy." He started walking towards Torchwick, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere except for where he was. "And you certainly don't looked happy."

The Arkham Knight and Torchwick were right in front of each other, and the Knight towered over Torchwick. He had to be at least seven feet tall. Both Torchwick and Sun audibly gulped.

"Well, of course I wouldn't be happy when I have to work with these incompetent animals, would y-"

This time it was Torchwick that was cut off as the Knight slapped him across the face. Yang almost snickered.

"You're not the one working with an incompetent animal, Roman. That's me."

"What did you just call me?!"

"I called you an incompetent animal. Now get out of my way."

Torchwick looked like he wanted to fight, but decided that that wasn't the best option to take. He stepped out of the way before angrily storming back to the bullhead.

The Knight walked over to the Faunus that Torchwick had hit, who was clearly terrified of the man approaching him. "You had one simple job. You had to carry a container around 100 feet. You managed to make a mistake. Do you believe this organization has a place for someone like you?"

The Faunus shook his head immediately. "Good. Now, give me your mask and I'll give you a ten second head start."

The now former White Fang recruit tore his mask off and ran as fast as he could away from the docks. The Knight merely stood there for what was actually four seconds before simply saying "ten" and shooting the fleeing Faunus in the back.

Team RWBY and Sun sat on the warehouse, completely shocked at what had just happened. This man was as ruthless as he was intimidating, and he was clearly not afraid to kill his own men if they failed him. This was someone that required caution.

At least, that's what a person in their right mind would've thought. Unfortunately, Blake was in any mind except for the right one. The sight of seeing a fellow Faunus executed like that was enough to send her over the deep end, and she was jumping off the roof before anyone could stop her.

Roman walked out of the bullhead following the gunshot, wondering what the Knight was thinking, before being greeted by the Knight himself, chuckling about what just happened.

Torchwick scoffed. "So, what's the big difference between what I do and what you just did? Seems like your way's a lot worse."

"Simple. You let them continue to work in the organization. That causes unnecessary problems. One single bullet, and it's all over, not wasting precious energy beating someone to the ground. Conserve your anger and use it against your enemies instead of lashing out against your allies, and nothing will stand in your way. Remember that."

The Knight was about to leave the area, but he suddenly felt a sword around his neck. It didn't take him much time to realize who was trying to hold him hostage.

"Well, well, well. Blake Belladonna. Can't say I'm too surprised. You always tried to make everything about you."

The sword tightened around his neck as Torchwick and the goons pointed their weapons at her.

"How do you know my name?"

The Knight chuckled; just like the normal way he talked, it made Blake more afraid than she'd ever been in her life. Not even betraying the Fang gave her this much fear.

"I know everything."

And just like that, the Knight was gone.

* * *

Everything happened too quickly for the others to prevent the Knight's escape, but the moment they saw a smoke cloud completely envelope both him and Blake, they sprung into action. They quickly started working on the goons, with Sun going after Torchwick himself.

Blake, still inside the smoke cloud, ran towards the noises, hoping to get out of the cloud and fight with her friends. Unfortunately, she felt a boot hit her side and knock her over before she could get there. Managing to recover in the air and landing on her feet, she turned towards her attacker and saw none other than the Knight himself, looking like a demon within the cloud of smoke.

Slowly and methodically, the Knight started walking towards her. Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud's gun and started firing at him, but it had no effect: the Knight merely took the shots and ignored them. She couldn't figure out if his aura was strong or if it was his armor, but he was completely unaffected by everything.

As the Knight finally got close enough to fight, she turned her weapon into it's katana form and started swinging at him.

The Knight didn't even pull out his weapons to block the strike, merely parrying it to the left with his arm. Blake compensated by spinning around to strike again, but he grabbed the sword before it could connect.

As she desperately attempted to free her sword, and herself, from the Knight's clutches, he simply tossed her to the side and into a shipping container. The force behind the throw was so strong that she made a dent in the container. As she felt her aura healing her injured body, she watched the Knight take slow steps towards her and begin to pull out one of his weapons. Before she could do anything else, however, she heard another sound that made her blood run cold.

"Get away from her you son of a bitch!"

Yang didn't realize the caliber that this man was. She was getting into a fight that she had no chance of winning. Unfortunately, before Blake could call to her, Yang had already ignited her semblance and used her gauntlets to launch herself forward towards the Knight.

To her horror, it went exactly as she expected: the Knight caught her fist before it could make contact with his face. To make matters worse, it seemed Yang had thrown as much force as possible into that punch, and the Knight didn't even flinch.

Yang seemed to shrink in the Knight's arm before he used his free hand to begin to choke her. As she struggled to breath, he turned them both towards Blake. That's when Blake noticed something that she couldn't see from behind.

The Knight had flames surrounding him that were identical to Yang's, only black.

The demon in front of them chuckled. "Thanks for the power-up." Before anyone could stop it, the Knight punched her in the stomach with what appeared to be the same amount of force Yang put into her punch. The only difference is that Yang couldn't block it like the Knight did, and Blake could both hear and see Yang's aura completely shatter from that one punch.

Blake screamed her name, but it was no use as she crashed into the same container she was in front of and collapsed, completely limp. In the distance, she could see Weiss, Ruby, and Sun all struggling to take on Torchwick, with the White Fang recruits laying on the ground. Sun seemed to realize that Blake and Yang were in trouble, but couldn't do anything to get away from Torchwick.

The Knight gained a deadly aura as he pulled out a gun from one of his holsters. Blake threw herself over Yang's unconscious body, hoping to at the very least save her long enough for one of the others to intervene. However, as the Knight went to pull the trigger, they heard a very familiar noise.

"Nooooooraaaaaa SMASH!"

Nora Valkyrie sailed from a bullhead above them, causing a crater in the ground where her hammer smashed. However, considering she was aiming for the now missing Knight, Blake could only briefly wonder where he had disappeared to before she felt a boot connect with the back of her head.

That was the final straw for her wounded body, and the last thing she saw before she finally passed out was Pyrrha and Ren land on the ground behind Nora.

* * *

Roman couldn't help but chuckle as he deflected another hit from the monkey before attacking Little Red. The Ice Queen had been knocked out long ago, but the other two remained too determined for his liking.

 _At least I'd been prepared. The Knight knows these kids a lot more than I give him credit for if he knew they would show up._

Normally, for a mission like this, he would've only brought a few men, six at the most. However, at the Knight's insistence, he'd brought as many people as he could force onto this mission. The effort had paid off: the majority of the thugs were unconscious on the ground, but at least they had the Dust they needed, and the White Fang would be blamed.

When he noticed the bullhead drop off the other people that the Knight had been worried about, he broke away from his fight to begin the retreat plan. Red and the monkey clearly knew they were outclassed, since when he backed away, they didn't follow.

Although even he had to admit the look of anger on Red's face scared him just a little bit.

Before he could even react, Neo was at his side with her parasol extended towards the other two. Roman couldn't even think about whether or not they recognized her before the sound of glass breaking signaled their departure.

Neo had returned them to their safe house: a comfortable penthouse in a hotel in north Vale. With all the right police officers paid off, he and Neo were safe and sound with no issues in the slightest. With a brush of his coat to clear off all the dust, Roman pulled out his scroll and turned on a timer.

 _30 seconds._

The Knight will have surrendered to the others. Roman looked over at Neo and saw that she was keeping track of the time as well.

 _2 minutes._

The Knight will have been arrested and put on a bullhead going directly to Beacon Academy. By now, he has all the intel he needs.

 _30 seconds._

The Knight makes his dramatic exit.

 _3...2...1...now!_

A cloud of smoke appeared in his safe house, and out from it came The Arkham Knight in all his terrifying glory. However, unlike before where his appearance brought him apprehension, this time it brought nothing but joy. Roman couldn't help but laugh a genuine laugh for once.

"I really need to commend you for that one! Everything was planned out perfectly!"

Neo nodded her head, which was as much as he was going to get from her. If Roman were to guess, the Knight was smiling under his helmet.

"Such a high honor, coming from Roman Torchwick himself. I must be hallucinating."

This time, the sarcasm wasn't biting. It was like speaking to an old friend.

"Now now, Jaune, if you think I'm not going to compliment you then you really have lost your mind."

The Knight took off his helmet, revealing his face to them. A face withered with scars across it, even though his blonde hair was still in it's normal mop, was all that stared back. If anyone else noticed the smile on his face, they would've described it as menacing, but Roman knew that's just how he smiled.

Jaune Arc's voice had gone through an extreme change. Even though his voice modifier more than did the job, he made sure that he was unrecognizable even without it. It was much deeper now, with none of the voice cracks that used to be there.

"Roman, I've gotta say", he said as he took his guns out of his holster and started to clean them. "I've met some pretty good actors in my time, but that was quite the performance you put on. If I wasn't in on it, I'd have thought you hated me."

Roman laughed. "Of course I'm a good actor. You think I got this far on my good looks alone?"

Neo gave him a thumbs up as well.

Jaune looked away from his guns, right at them. "I knew you two were better than they made you out to be."

* * *

When Yang regained consciousness, it was with an extreme amount of pain in her stomach. She couldn't help but groan when she awoke, already wishing she could go back to sleep until that pain disappeared. Unfortunately, if there was one person that wasn't going to sleep, it was Yang, seeing as Ruby was not having any of it.

Before Yang could even react, Ruby was latching onto her like it was the only thing keeping her alive. The problem was that only increased her stomach pain, but Ruby quickly let go when she realized the pain she was causing.

It all happened too quickly for her to remember anything that happened in detail, but she remembered bits and pieces. Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch came into her room, with Team PRN not far behind them, and asked what exactly had happened.

Yang told her perspective for the whole thing, ending when she was knocked out. Ozpin looked nervous, and asked if the guy she fought, the Arkham Knight had said anything. When she said that he said "thanks for the power-up", Ozpin fell over and had to grab onto a chair, even though he had his cane.

Goodwitch grabbed him before he could slam into the floor, and Ozpin looked at her with the most fear anyone had ever seen inside him as he said in a whimper, "He can copy semblances". As realization hit all of them, they all started to panic, but Yang could only see the fear in Ozpin's eyes. The fact Ozpin, possibly the greatest Huntsman in recorded history, was so afraid of this person could only mean one thing.

Whatever the Arkham Knight wanted, he had more than enough power to get it on his own. But combined with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick?

He was one of the biggest threats Remnant had ever seen.

* * *

Some thought he wore a mask to intimidate others. Others thought he wore it because he didn't want anyone to know his name out of fear. Unfortunately for the skeptics, only one person knew why the Knight wore a mask.

Jaune Arc wore the mask so that when his identity finally did come out, it would be the final straw that broke his former friend's backs.

Team SSSN would go first, an unfortunate necessity to truly break them. The liars on Team RWBY would be next, slowly and methodically to cause as much fear as possible. Nora would be next, in front of Ren in order to get Ren to go out of control and throw himself at him. It would be too simple to end him.

Finally, the backstabber Pyrrha Nikos would die last, after losing everyone she ever dared to care about, just like she did to him. Just before she finally died, he would take off the mask, showing her and the world exactly how much of a failure she was.

From there, no one could stop him from doing whatever he damn well pleased.


	5. Consequences

**A/N: I'm so sorry about the long wait. All I can say is that something happened in November of last year that just took away any shred of my motivation. All I can say is that I'm gonna try to update more often.**

* * *

It took every piece of self control it had for Mercury to not laugh at the scene in front of him. Cinder was standing in front of Salem, looking like a kicked puppy, while the Arkham Knight was standing at attention off to the side like always. He always thought that he was the biggest slave, then he saw the way the Knight acted whenever Salem walked in. It was like the Knight only existed to serve her, and not in a funny way.

Unfortunately, the last thing Mercury needed was to have Salem's attention at a moment like this. Saying that she was displeased with Cinder was an understatement. Cinder and the Knight had argued constantly over whose plan would be more effective, and the Knight using Roman and Neo to pull off his heist after Cinder decided to not include them made Salem question her judgement.

The good news was that, to Mercury at least, a plan was a plan no matter who it came from, so he was perfectly willing to change leaders if it meant a better plan. The bad news was that he now had to deal with Roman and Neo smirking at him from across the room like he had been the one to dismiss them.

In his defense, he hadn't been ecstatic about having them along, but he also hadn't thought them worthless like Emerald had. Any idiot could see the two of them must have been strong if they'd gotten to the top of the underworld like they had. The only problem was that Mercury was better, and in his eyes that made them a liability.

He only worked with equals and superiors, just like his father had taught him. Now, though, the superior that he currently worked for was being questioned by her own superior.

"So you mean to tell me that, after deeming these two as unqualified, they were instead approached by the Knight and given the same offer you would have given them, only to become more successful in forwarding our plans than you have. Would you like to explain that to me?"

Cinder looked absolutely terrified, and even Mercury couldn't blame her. Salem never looked particularly happy, but now she looked downright pissed, and on _that_ face, pissed was not a good look.

"Actually, I can explain it without you. Despite your orders to recruit as many people as possible, you got arrogant. You started to believe that your standards were far too great than they actually should be. As a result, you let two perfectly good assets walk away. I can only imagine how many others you overlooked."

Cinder once again looked away, and both Emerald and Mercury had to focus to keep their eyes on her instead of the looks Roman and Neo were giving them.

"Cinder, I've trusted you with very simple tasks. You did well with recruiting your two followers," she said, gesturing to Emerald and Mercury, "and you did well with defeating the Fall Maiden, even if she did escape. However, the fact that you let a man who has only been working with me for a short time overshadow you in this regard is troubling. He's even gotten more intel from two minutes on a bullhead than you have in your entire time in Haven academy."

Salem gestured to the Knight, still standing at attention in the back corner of the room. If Mercury had to guess, he had a smug smirk on his face, but considering he'd never even seen his face, he couldn't tell for sure.

"Thanks to his efforts, we now know the names of our biggest threats within Beacon. We even know their weak spots and emotional troubles that we can use to our advantage. I've advocated for your leadership multiple times, but you have shown me that you are not a true leader. Merely a follower. You are to follow the orders of the Arkham Knight from now on. Understand?"

Cinder nodded, hiding her disappointment behind a mask of apathy. Emerald, on the other hand, couldn't hide her disappointment and lowered her head.

"Prove to me that you're still useful, Cinder. You don't have any more chances."

Knowing that Salem had nothing else to say, Cinder knelt in front of her as she left the room. Mercury, Emerald, Roman, and Neo made sure to stay as far away from her as they possibly could as she left, not wanting to risk any sort of contact.

When she was gone, Cinder stood up and walked back to the Knight, still standing in the corner at attention. He didn't react to Cinder's presence in any way, to the point that Mercury honestly thought he was just asleep standing up.

"What have I done to you to deserve these personal attacks? To deserve any of the things you've done to me?"

Still keeping as still as a stone, the Knight replied. "You have done nothing to me, Cinder. However, your skills as a strategist need work. I respect your skills as a tactician, but not as a strategist."

Emerald whispered "what's the difference", clearly trying to lighten the mood, but the Knight somehow heard.

"Tactics are for the short term. They are what you use in a fight. Strategy, on the other hand, is the bigger picture. Planning out heists, or in our case, Grimm invasions. Strategists think about every possible variable, while tacticians focus on what's in front of them."

Mercury couldn't help but think " _this guys senses are ridiculous_."

The Knight turned back to Cinder. "You are a worthy tactician, possibly good enough even for Beacon if your life had worked out that way. I have to look no further than the fight with the Fall Maiden to see that. However, your long term strategy needs work. Mine doesn't. That makes me the better leader."

The Knight finally moved for the first time, stopping only to glare at Cinder to the side. Though, Mercury could only assume he was glaring, since that blue mask concealed his identity pretty much perfectly. "If it makes you feel any better, the mission was always better in my hands than it ever could've been in yours. I'll be sure to send Ozpin your regards."

Cinder stood still while the Knight walked towards Roman and Neo, still standing to the side with nearly identical smirks on their faces. He made sure to look at Cinder when he stood behind them and grabbed them on the shoulders. "I'll let you know when you're actually needed."

With the last word, he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, taking Roman and Neo with him.

Even after the smoke cleared, Cinder remained in her spot in front of Salem's throne, not moving an inch. Emerald couldn't keep the worry out of her voice when she asked "Cinder, are you okay?"

Cinder turned around, still trying to keep a mask of apathy even though both of them could see the fury in her eyes. "I'm fine. If Salem believes that the Knight is best suited to run my operation, who am I to disagree?"

Neither of them missed how she called it her operation

* * *

Within the penthouse, the peaceful silence was once again destroyed by a cloud of black smoke appearing in the middle of the living room. From inside the smoke cloud came Roman Torchwick, the once composed criminal now racing towards the nearest trash can.

Next came Neo, who silently laughed at Roman's misfortune and took out her scroll to take as many pictures as her storage space would allow.

Lastly, the Arkham Knight walked out of the smoke as it started to dissipate, laughing in his almost demonic voice before taking off his helmet. The voice quickly morphed back into a normal human voice as Jaune Arc talked. "I thought I was the one that got motion sickness. What happened, Roman?"

In between bouts of vomiting, Roman responded. "Shut it, Arc. I don't understand how you can stand that. I mean, Neo's semblance feels instantaneous, but yours feels like you're being torn apart piece by piece and flown away. Neo, how are you okay?"

Neo shrugged, leaving Jaune to fill in the blanks. "Guess you're just not meant for teleporting after all, Roman."

He only shrugged in return, conceding. "I'm completely fine with that, to be honest. My semblance is good in its own way, I suppose."

Jaune figured that was the perfect moment to segue into important talks. "Speaking of which, me being in command means our plan is getting used. You ready for the performance of your life, Roman?"

He held his chest in mock indignation. "Such low confidence in me! What have I done to earn such doubt?"

Jaune held up his hands. "Just had to ask. Salem would have my head if I didn't. Did you send the police that anonymous tip?"

Roman smiled, glad at how that particular part of the mission had gone. "Yep. They fell for it hook, line, and sinker. They also grabbed those files you left on the table, just like you said they would."

Jaune shrugged in return, not knowing what to say to that.

Roman, however, continued. "I still don't understand why you would leave those, though. Now they know who you're targeting. Why is that a good thing?"

This time, Jaune smiled a genuine smile that betrayed the dark nature of the conversation. "Fear, Roman. They think I'm unstoppable. How would you feel if you knew you were being targeted by a merciless killer that can't be stopped?"

Roman let out a sarcastic sigh. "Good point. On a completely unrelated note, I solemnly swear to never piss you off ever again."

Neo put a hand on her heart, going along with the joke.

An uncharacteristic bout of laugher erupted from Jaune, finding it hard to imagine wanting to kill either of them. "You just make sure those White Fang recruits are all in, alright? The last thing we need is a mutiny."

Roman chuckled, this time with a dark tone that wasn't often heard. Neo also looked more bloodthirsty than usual. "Oh, trust me. When my semblance is through with them, they won't be thinking about anything other than whatever I want. Neither the White Fang or the Beacon girls stand a chance."

* * *

It had been a stressful day for both Yang and Blake. First, Ozpin had needed a formal debrief on the incident at the docks and not just a story from a hospital bed. He took most of it in stride, but the fact that the Arkham Knight could copy semblances still noticeably shook him.

Uncle Qrow was nowhere to be found despite the fact that he'd been hanging out around Beacon more often than not lately. Ever since Team CRDL's disappearance, he'd practically joined the staff with how much they saw him around campus.

After the debrief, they both were required to go back to the infirmary just to make sure there were no issues. That led to more tests than were probably necessary (or at least Yang thought they were unnecessary) before they were sent back to their room.

Team PRN was missing through the entire exchange, apparently having been called to Ozpin's office immediately after Yang and Blake left. Whatever they were going to talk about, none of them looked happy.

Now, though, Ruby and Weiss had finally arrived so they could walk back to their room as a team. After the scare that was that hospital stay, Yang wanted nothing more than to jump on her bed and sleep for a day or two.

Any hope of that disappeared when they opened their door and Qrow was standing there. Ruby had just enough time to get excited before they all noticed the look on his face.

He was absolutely livid. The only time Yang had seen Qrow look that angry was after he saved her and Ruby in the woods all those years ago.

He spoke, clearly trying to stay calm. Whether it was for his sake or hers, she didn't know. "There better be a good reason why I got a call from Ozpin at three in the goddamn morning saying that you were in the hospital. That the Arkham Knight put you there."

All Yang could think was ' _Oh shit_ '.

"I know that I personally can't think of a good reason why you decided to break an order from Ozpin himself and went without backup. I'm not even angry that you went after that shipment, but if you can't convince me that you made the right decision when you went without backup then you are both in a lot of trouble."

Ruby visibly deflated at being called out, leaving Yang to speak up. "It's not like we knew that this Arkham Knight guy would be there. We didn't even know the White Fang would be there. None of us expected or wanted a fight."

Qrow waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, I heard the story. That the cat over here lost control and decided to commit suicide and take you all with her."

Blake bit back as much rage as possible, but it was still audible when she said, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Qrow stared her in the eyes. "It means that you are a complete fucking moron if you think you could take these guys." Ruby cringed at the curse word, but Qrow was too angry to keep up his normal censorship. "You were given orders that if you encountered the Arkham Knight, you were to retreat and call for help. Instead, you almost got everyone around you killed. You almost gave him exactly what he wants."

Weiss took the moment to speak up, trying to retain her formality. "What do you mean he wants us killed?"

Qrow laughed, but the humorlessness in it genuinely scared all of them. "Think about it. This guy named himself after the village that the Arc kid died in. Ozpin's nervous that it might actually be a jab aimed at you guys, but even if it isn't, it's meant for the team across the hall and that makes you guilty by association. Congratulations. You all are most likely targets and we don't even know why."

The four of them were stunned into silence, but Qrow wasn't finished. "And kitty, the fact that you thought you could take on the Knight is downright hilarious. You wanna see what he did to your comrades?"

He took out his scroll, with a picture already selected, and tossed it to Blake. She caught it, but almost dropped it in disgust when she saw the picture of Cardin. Yang had enough time to see it to cover Ruby's eyes before she could look. Weiss didn't have any outward reaction, trying to keep up her usual demeanor, but on the inside it was taking everything not to gag.

"The best guess I can get is that Winchester there lost that fight in ten to fifteen seconds. It only took the Knight another minute to leave that for me to find before he vanished without a trace. Consider yourself lucky you're still alive, much less in one piece."

He took his scroll back, but Blake didn't move a muscle. Everything she saw in the White Fang, even all the horrors she watched Adam commit, paled in comparison to what that monster did to Cardin. She may have hated Cardin, but no one deserved that kind of death.

"Ozpin's officially decided to keep you all in Beacon. You are all to stay on campus and are not to leave it for any reason. If you need supplies, I can get them for you. But the fact is that if you go out there, we can't protect you, and you can't protect yourself against him. You're staying where it's safe. Understand?"

They all nodded, and his face softened a little. He walked to the group and put his hands on Ruby and Yang's shoulders. "I need you to stay safe, and wherever Ozpin is is where you'll be safest. I'm not gonna lie to you, girls. This guy genuinely scares me." They both looked at him, shocked. Neither of them thought anything could scare him. "The amount of abilities that he could have is terrifying. But I trust Ozpin. If Ozpin can't defeat him, than we're dead anyway."

He knelt down in front of Ruby. "I need you to stay here, okay? I've lost a lot already. Tai has too. I don't wanna think about what would happen if we lost you too."

Ruby couldn't take any more at that point and hugged Qrow as tightly as she possibly could. He hugged her just as tightly, rubbing her back as she cried into his shoulder. Yang didn't join the hug, but she grabbed her uncle's shoulder tightly, offering whatever support she could. Although he looked at her and nodded, his attention was mostly focused on Ruby.

The last remaining piece of Summer.

* * *

Ren knew when they were called into Ozpin's office that it wasn't going to be a positive conversation. After what had happened with Team RWBY at the docks, specifically the Arkham Knight's involvement, nothing the Headmaster had to say to them could be particularly happy.

However, to say that he expected Ozpin to be holding a bottle of whiskey when they walked in would be completely wrong.

Ozpin had lost any sense of the calm, collected, and charismatic headmaster that he usually was. Instead, he was showing the image of a broken man desperately trying to keep the pieces of his normal self together. It shocked all three of them, even Nora, into complete silence.

He didn't say a word at first, merely gesturing to the chairs in front of his desk. PRN caught his meaning and sat down, waiting for him to pull himself together and speak.

After what felt like an eternity to them, he finally did. "I assume you remember the details of the incident at the docks?" They nodded. "Particularly the fact that the Arkham Knight can copy other people's semblances?" They nodded again. "Well, there's one more detail that we missed the first time the story was told."

Ozpin pulled out a picture from underneath his desk. It appeared to be a picture of a sword, though Ren couldn't identify the kind due to how close up the image was. It was as though it was taken at the angle of someone looking down with the blade at their throat. "Do you recognize this weapon?"

They all took the time to analyze the weapon, look for any identifying features, but at that close range, they found none. They shook their heads. "What if I told you that this weapon was Gambol Shroud, Ms. Belladonna's weapon?"

They all widened their eyes, feeling foolish for not being able to see the weapon they'd fought with so many times. "What if I also told you that the Arkham Knight was able to recognize both the weapon and the owner from this exact angle?"

That explained the weird angle in Ren's mind. He wanted to see if they had a chance of identifying it the same way the Knight had. It was then that he realized what the Headmaster was implying. "Are you saying that he's been studying Team RWBY?"

Pyrrha and Nora both caught on at that point. "It would make sense if he could identify the weapon that none of us could."

Ozpin put his head in his hands. "This is exactly what I was afraid of. Unfortunately, it's not just Team RWBY he's been studying." He reached underneath his desk again just as the door to his office opened. Professor Goodwitch stepped inside, followed by Team SSSN.

Sun took the lead. "You wanted to see us, sir?"

Ozpin found whatever he was looking for, a file of some sort, and put it on the table. He shook his head at Sun. "We have no time for formalities. Sit down."

The rough tone in his voice left no room for argument, and the team of boys sat down next to Team PRN. Sun and Pyrrha shared a worried glance, but no words were spoken. Ozpin took the opportunity to talk again.

"Today, the Vale Police Department received a tip on a possible safe house belonging to Roman Torchwick. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, the safe house had been completely cleaned as though no one had ever been there. The only exception was this file, left out on the table. It was too obvious to have been left behind by mistake."

The _someone wanted us to find this_ was left unsaid.

He opened the file and spread out all the papers inside. Everyone stared at the papers in fear.

The papers were detailed reports on all of the members of Team SSSN, RWBY, and PRN: basic information such as race and age, all of their strengths and weaknesses, their weapons and how they worked, their semblances, and, even more frightening, a list of the people they were closest to.

They all read over their own reports, shocked by the level of detail that he seemed to have. He pointed out weaknesses and strengths that they didn't even think they had. The amount of time the Knight had to have been studying them made Ren nervous.

Sun was the only one able to talk. "Since when were we this guys targets?"

It was something that PRN didn't think about while they were nervous about themselves. Apparently, the Knight was targeting Team SSSN as well.

Ozpin chuckled, and the sound, sounding so similar to the Ozpin they knew before yet sounding so different at the same time, made Ren even more nervous. "That's not all. Go to the back of the files."

They all flipped over the papers, and were once again stunned into silence. On the back of the files was a candid picture of each of them. Ren even remembered where his picture was taken: a carnival had come to town two months after Jaune died, and Ren had spent the entire time chasing after Nora trying to stop her from eating all the cotton candy.

Over each of the pictures was a word. His word was 'liar', although he couldn't think of why. Pyrrha's word, though, confused him more, yet at the same time made sense when he thought of the origin of the Arkham Knight's name.

'Coward'. The exact same thing that she had called herself every day since she had been forced to leave Jaune behind.

"The earliest picture we can accurately date was taken a year ago. He hasn't just been studying you. He's been stalking you for at least a year."

If there was a way to describe absolute silence, it was what followed that sentence. The fact that this man had been following them for a year at minimum terrified them to the core. They had been studied like lab animals until he knew everything about them, even things they didn't know themselves.

"None of you are allowed off campus for any reason, understand? If you need supplies, you can send me a list and you'll get it, but if you go off campus I can no longer guarantee your safety. Please, for the love of whatever gods you believe in, stay here. I cannot lose anymore students."

They all nodded distractedly. Ozpin sighed, sad that he had to force this on his students. "I'm sorry that it's come to this. The threat of the Arkham Knight is very real. I just wish there was more I could do. But the reason why he's targeting you doesn't matter, only that he is. Stay in Beacon. Dismissed."

Ozpin didn't even make sure they left. He merely put his head down on the desk, trying to forget all the horrible things he'd just had to put his students through.

They left in waves. Team SSSN left as a group, with Sun not even bothering to hide the fact that he was grabbing one of Ozpin's whiskey bottles with his tail. To their surprise, Goodwitch and Ozpin didn't even try to stop them. Neptune grabbed his teams files, and they were gone.

Goodwitch left next without a word, merely giving a concerned glance to Ozpin's back as she grabbed Team RWBY's files before going down the elevator.

Pyrrha ran to the elevator immediately afterward, saying that she needed air, but Ren and Nora knew exactly where she was going: the grave.

Finally, Ren and Nora got up and walked to the elevator, holding hands and trying to find whatever comfort they could in each other. When the elevator doors closed, however, Nora lost any composure she had and held onto Ren as tightly as she could.

"Renny, what did we do to deserve this?"

Hearing Nora sound so broken when she said that broke Ren's heart. It was a spur of the moment decision he might not have made otherwise when he kissed the top of her head and held her close.

"I don't know, Nora, but we have to face it together. We've faced everything else together, after all."

Nora looked up at him, blushing the whole time. "Together-together?"

Ren sighed, but looked down at her with a smile. "If it works out that way, I certainly wouldn't mind."

* * *

Pyrrha was out of breath when she reached the grave, but she didn't care as she knelt on it.

"Where are you when I need you?! I keep thinking that you'll give us advice, or tell us we'll be alright, and then you're not there! Why did you do it, you idiot?! Did you think you weren't good enough?! Is that it?! You were the best of us!"

She finally broke down crying on top of the grave, all the emotions that had pent up since the Arkham Knight's first appearance coming out at once. "Please, Jaune. Come back to me."

Unknown to her, through a bug in the gravestone, the exact same boy she was crying to listened with a smirk on his face.


	6. The Devil's Deal

**I have a strong feeling I'm gonna get some hate over this chapter. Feel free to hate, just please don't be a dick about it.**

* * *

Sun couldn't help but feel conflicted, sitting on his bed nursing a glass of the whiskey he stole from Ozpin. Despite the fact that he had no issues with his decision, he still wished it could have gone any other way.

"Nep, I gotta ask you something." The bluenette, sitting next to him with his own glass, didn't even have to look up or hear the question to know what to say, slowly and methodically to get his point across.

"Blake's gonna hate you, but I think you made the right decision. There's nothing else to do. Believe me, I'm not happy with how things went with Weiss, but we have ourselves to think about too."

Sun nodded, not feeling any better but at least knowing his friend had his back after everything that had gone wrong not four hours earlier.

* * *

 _Four hours earlier_

To say that the mood inside Team RWBY's dorm was somber was an understatement.

Nora and Ren had come by not long after Qrow had left, both of them looking sadder than any of them had ever seen them. From there it had spiraled out of control.

Weiss was the one who opened the door to let them in, holding onto each other's hands for dear life. Nora was quiet, something that set off the remainder of Team RWBY as odd.

Nora, no matter what the situation, was never quiet. Even when Jaune died, she put aside her sadness to try to cheer up the others. It took Ren and Pyrrha ten minutes of nonstop asking if she was truly alright for her to finally break down.

Ruby took the lead from her bed. "What happened?"

Ren didn't hesitate to tell the whole story. "Ozpin called us to his office this morning to talk about the Arkham Knight. He's making us stay on campus, but something tells me you are stuck here too." No one disagreed. "Guys, the Knight is even worse than we thought."

Weiss interrupted him, remembering the image of Cardin that Qrow had shown them earlier. "How could he possibly get any worse?"

Ren didn't say anything in response, merely pulling four pieces of paper out of his coat. All of them could clearly see their own pictures on the backs of them.

Ruby, Yang, and Blake were out of their beds before Ren even saw them move, each grabbing their own files as Weiss also grabbed hers. They all read over their own files in silence as Nora and Ren merely put their heads down in sadness, knowing what was coming next.

As they all read their files, a sense of dread washed over all of them. The files were complete, filled with their strengths and weaknesses, semblances, and even a list of people they were close to. Seeing Ruby's name on the list, much less seeing her with her own file, made Yang want to obliterate the Arkham Knight once and for all.

Unfortunately, she'd learned from their last encounter. They couldn't stop him. Not on their own, at least.

Nora got her attention again. "That's not all. Look on the back."

They all flipped their files over, and, just like Ren and Nora that morning, they all were completely shocked at the pictures on the back, much less the words over them.

Much to her anger (finally igniting her semblance after keeping everything else suppressed), Yang's word was 'bimbo', clearly saying that she had no brains. On the other hand, based on the last encounter she had with the Knight, she could freely admit that she needed to keep a cooler head.

Ruby glanced at her word, and it was enough to crumple the paper and throw it in the trash can. The Knight was calling her a 'fake', which completely reignited all the fears she had had since she became leader of Team RWBY. The last thing she needed right now was to doubt either her leadership or combat abilities.

Blake didn't think on her word for long, seeing as it was 'traitor'. Literally anyone in the White Fang would call her that if they saw her again, so she didn't let it get to her. If anything, it only made her feel validated: of all the decisions she'd made over the course of her life, leaving the White Fang was the only one she didn't regret.

On the other hand, Weiss's word left her thinking of all the wrong choices she'd made in her life. Believing the arrogant notion that she was the best in Beacon, never once attempting to sympathize with any Faunus, especially the ones that worked for her father, and even the way she treated everyone when they first arrived. 'Heartless'.

Nora cut through their thoughts once again. "According to Ozpin, they can trace one of those pictures back a whole year. The Arkham Knight's been stalking us this whole time."

Somehow, despite the fact that the other three girls all had to calm themselves at the news, Ruby remained calm. "You guys have files like this too?"

"Yeah. Pyrrha and Sun didn't take it well."

Blake perked up at the mention of her boyfriend. "Wait, Sun? He's a target too?"

Ren realized that somehow, they'd forgotten to mention Team SSSN's involvement, so he said, "his entire team has files just like this. We still have no idea why he chose us, but whatever the reason, SSSN is in danger too."

"You know, if you're gonna talk about me, you could check to make sure I'm not actually there."

Though Team RWBY was used to Sun often entering through the window, Nora and Ren were not. They both jumped in shock and almost took out their weapons before they realized who it was.

Sun entered through the window, holding the bottle of whisky he stole from Ozpin in his hand. From the look of it, he hadn't even opened it. He crossed the room, ignoring even Blake, and went straight to the door to open it.

Neptune and Pyrrha stood on the other side, with Neptune having his arm over Pyrrha's shoulders. She'd clearly been crying, but since she'd just come back from the Jaune's grave, that didn't surprise anyone. Weiss's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything.

Both of them entered the room and disconnected, Neptune heading over to Weiss and Pyrrha going to Ruby. Ruby put her hand on her shoulder, trying to offer support, but Weiss rejected the arm that Neptune tried to put around her shoulder.

As Scarlet would summarize later, "it all kicked off".

Neptune quickly figured out why Weiss would reject him. It was obvious with their track record. "Let me guess, Snow Angel. You think that I was trying to get into Pyrrha's pants."

Weiss didn't move, but Pyrrha and Sun clearly started paying more attention to their conversation. The others seemed to try to ignore it, but it quickly became too much to ignore. Weiss nodded.

Neptune laughed, but it was a darker laugh than normal. It surprised everyone that he could even make the noise. "You've got to be kidding me. How low is your opinion of me, Weiss? Be honest. Cause if you honestly think that I'd go so far as to try to seduce my friend not only while I'm dating you, but while she's grieving for the love of her life, you really don't think much of me at all, huh?!"

The entire time he was ranting, his voice had gotten louder and louder until he was shouting at the end. Sun came behind him and said "Nep, calm down", he was too angry to let it go.

"If you're gonna get self-righteous about how much you've changed, you can't ignore how much I've changed!"

"Oh really, Neptune, enlighten me on your extraordinary changes!"

"When was the last time I flirted with another girl?!"

Weiss was about to retort, when she actually started to think about it. Now that she reflected, Neptune had a point: he hadn't flirted with anyone else in front of her the entire year. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, she wasn't thinking clearly, and responded "apparently five minutes ago!"

Surprisingly, this was when Pyrrha got involved, rather heatedly. "Neptune didn't flirt with me. He was being a caring friend. Something you've apparently forgotten how to do."

Weiss looked gobsmacked at Pyrrha siding with Neptune, believing that he must have flirted with her to get that close to her, but also at the harsh tone in her voice. Pyrrha almost never insulted anyone, much less that strongly.

Neptune gave a scoff at her reaction. "Surprisingly enough, I can be kind to others without wanting to fuck them."

* * *

After dropping off the files back in his room, Neptune couldn't handle the indoors. Even if he wasn't claustrophobic, there were some situations where you just needed fresh air, and this was one of them. Ozpin never said they couldn't go outside, just off campus, so soon enough he was walking though Beacon's courtyard.

He still couldn't handle everything he'd heard. For some reason, he and his team were being targeted by one of the strongest villains Remnant had ever faced. On top of that, he had been stalked for almost a whole year by said villain. Even worse, as though it could get any worse, the Knight had called him a 'pretender', which could only mean one thing.

The Knight knew him enough to know about his social anxiety.

The only two people he'd ever told about that, besides his team, were Weiss and Jaune. One was dead, and the other couldn't figure it out for almost a whole year, so the fact that the Knight knew scared him more than anything else.

His feet seemed to move on their own. He hadn't had a plan for when he got outside, just that he wanted out. So when he suddenly found himself clearly heading towards the grave, he wasn't truly surprised. It was one of the only landmarks on campus.

Even if he didn't come here often, he still visited the grave every now and then. Jaune was his friend, after all. He helped him conquer his anxiety the night of the dance and score the girl that had changed him in so many positive ways. Thanks to Jaune, the player he used to be was gone, replaced by someone he actually respected.

He also couldn't be surprised that Pyrrha was sobbing over the grave. Aside from him, only Ruby and Jaune's team really visited, but Pyrrha visited almost every day now. Despite that, he still was drawn to the grave, whether to comfort her or give himself a friend he didn't know.

He walked until he was a fair distance away. The old Neptune would've checked out her ass while it was up like that, but now Neptune was staring at the back of her head, wondering what to say. Finally, he remembered Jaune's advice. Just talk to her.

"He loved you, you know."

That hadn't been what he was hoping would come out of his mouth.

Pyrrha whipped her head back, trying to dry her eyes with her sleeve, but stopped when she saw who it was. They may not have been close, but they knew each other enough to not put up appearances. Instead, she spoke in a gravely voice, cracking from crying. "What was that supposed to mean?"

It took everything in Neptune not to chuckle. Despite the tense situation, he couldn't help but think that it would take a lot to prove someone loved her. It took more than wearing a dress, at least. "I meant it literally. He loved you, whether he knew it or not."

Pyrrha didn't know what to say to that, so she just turned back towards the stone. Neptune took the opportunity to walk up to the stone and crouch next to her.

"I still remember the night of the dance." She looked up at him, wanting to hear the story. "I walked up to the balcony to get away from Weiss and you passed me. You looked like you were on the verge of tears."

 _"You're the kind of guy I wish I was here with."_

"I made some kind of lame joke about ballroom dancing and he got pissed beyond all belief. I never saw him angry before or after that. He really hated my guts for turning Weiss down."

 _"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?"_

"When I told him that I couldn't dance, and how hard it was to act so cool all the time, he didn't even flinch. It's like all hatred in his body disappeared. He gave me the advice I needed to get my head out of my ass and talk to Weiss, and the rest is history."

 _"No pickup lines, no suave moves, just be yourself. I've been told that's the way to go."_

"It didn't take much to put the pieces together and realize that he wasn't completely talking to me. He was talking to himself too. We fist bump and I leave, and the next thing I know he's strolling in, wearing a dress, heading straight for you like a man on a mission."

 _"Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now, do you want to stand there and laugh at me, or do you want to dance?"_

"The fact that everyone would think of him as nothing but a joke for wearing that dress didn't even faze him. He really just didn't care about what other people thought about him as long as he made you happy. I could never be that brave. And from what I've heard, that wasn't the only time he was brave for you."

 _"God damnit, run!"_

Neptune finally looked her in the eyes, and almost wished he hadn't. She wasn't even trying to hide the tears that were pouring out of her eyes. Despite how much he hated it, though, he needed to finish.

"He loved you, Pyrrha. Even if he never said it or knew it himself, he really did."

At that point, Pyrrha couldn't take anymore and hugged him. She always asked herself if Jaune had ever had any feelings for her, but was too scared to ask anyone else out of fear that the answer would be no. Now, though, if Neptune was telling the truth, then it was obvious how much he cared.

Neptune hesitated for a moment before returning the hug, letting Pyrrha cry on his shoulder. He could barely hold it together himself when he heard her saying "it's not fair" over and over again. Instead, he gave his honest reply.

"No. It's not fair at all."

Whether it was ten seconds or ten minutes they couldn't tell. Neptune stayed there with his arms around her until she finally stopped crying, putting on the mask of the strong warrior that she needed to be for her team. Even with the tear streaks that she didn't bother to get rid of, she still looked fiercer than Neptune had ever seen her.

It made him smile wider than he had in a while. "There's the Pyrrha we all know. Now come on. We've got three teams waiting for us."

Pyrrha got confused for a moment before she realized he must have been talking about Team RWBY as well as their own teams. Mustering up the resolve to stand, she began the walk to the dorms before Neptune put his arm around her shoulder. Recognizing the gesture as a friendly one, Pyrrha leaned into him as they walked back to the dorms.

* * *

"I can be somebody's friend without wanting to sleep with them, Weiss. I'm tired of having to prove that to you."

That was a breakup if Sun had ever heard one. Unfortunately, as if to make everything worse, Nora's scroll went off right at that moment.

Giving a sheepish smile to everyone as they turned to her, she pulled out her scroll to shut it off when she got a look at the caller ID. Instantly, her blood turned to ice.

Jaune Arc was calling her.

* * *

 _Ten minutes ago_

Still clad in his Arkham Knight uniform without the helmet, Jaune listened intently to the bug in the gravestone as Pyrrha cried with Neptune. There were many interesting developments from Neptune's little speech, but there was one thing that Jaune took from it.

Neptune was angry. Very angry.

That was something he could use. Roman would understand if they had to bump up their plans a little bit.

He sent a short message to the thief, telling him to meet, and almost immediately there was a knock at Jaune's door. Roman didn't wait for a response before entering, shutting the door behind him. "What do you need, Jaune? If it's about the job tonight, I was literally just getting ready for it."

Jaune turned around to face him, natural smile on his face. "I have no doubt, Roman. However, the job has changed."

Roman looked intrigued, and merely said "explain that sentence."

Jaune thought his words over for just a second to make sure his point got across before speaking. "I'm sure you remember that we had two jobs planned? I want you to combine them into one."

Roman chuckled. "What made you finally change your mind? I've been voting for that this whole time, but you always said that we should get the robots separately. Why include them both?"

Jaune also chuckled, but this one was much darker than Roman's. "It looks like we might be able to get an extra helper. Neptune Vasilias."

Roman only looked confused, seeing as he recognized the name. "Isn't that one of your targets? Why would he help you?"

He gave Roman a knowing glance. "It won't be voluntary."

"Ah. Got it."

Jaune pulled out his scroll as Roman started to leave the room. Having a sudden idea, he called out again. "Actually, Roman, why don't you listen in? I have the feeling that this is going to be something you won't wanna miss."

Roman chuckled, making sure the door was locked before walking back to Jaune. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Nora looked up, fear and trepidation on her face. She immediately answered the call, only slightly disappointed to discover that the call was audio only. "Jaune?!"

If she didn't have everyone's attention, she got it then. Unfortunately, the moment of hope was crushed into fear as she heard a familiar voice on the other end, but not the one she was hoping for.

"Hello, Nora."

The Arkham Knight was calling her. From Jaune's scroll. She didn't even try to hide the terror from her face as the others clearly heard the voice.

"Speechless? I'm shocked. I expected more from you."

Before Nora could even reply, Yang yanked the scroll from her hand, eyes redder than anyone, even Ruby, had even seen them. Nora only whimpered, prompting Ren to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She collapsed into his side, all life gone from her body.

Yang, meanwhile, was thinking of nothing except the fact that Ruby was one of this maniac's targets. "What the fuck do you want from us?!"

The Knight only chuckled, something that made her flashback to the docks for only a moment. "Hello to you too, Yang. If it's any consolation, it is very good to hear your voice again."

Yang only paused for a moment before getting even angrier. "What do you mean again? Who are you?!"

He chuckled again, and this time it took everything in her to not crush the scroll in her hand. Pure condescension was all it was. "Now now, Yang, that's part of the game. However, if you're willing to forget about that, then this could end right now."

One sideways glance at Ruby was all it took for her to immediately want him to go on. "What do you mean this could end?"

"It's very simple." It was like he was talking to a third grader. 'Bimbo' immediately went through her head. "All I want is the remains of Team JNPR. Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos. If those three are at the docks at 7:00 tonight, I will leave you all alone. For all intents and purposes, I will completely disappear."

Yang went silent.

"I understand that this is a tough decision, so it's best that you make it quickly. Oh, and make sure Nora gets her scroll back to call me when the time comes. It will be delightful to hear the disappointment in her voice when it isn't her fearless leader that answers."

With his final piece said, The Arkham Knight hung up the scroll.

* * *

Roman was laughing hysterically. Hearing the blonde sound as angry as she did was hilarious to him, especially when he knew exactly why she was angry. She was terrified for Little Red, and it showed.

Jaune, on the other hand, set down the scroll with a small smile on his face. He knew exactly what would happen in the next few minutes, so now all that was left to do was call back at 7:00 and confirm everything.

In the meantime, however, he had another job to worry about. "Whenever you stop laughing like the studio audience of a sitcom, it's time for the biggest job ever pulled in Remnant. You ready to make history, Roman?"

Roman wiped a tear from his eye before standing up and grabbing his cane. "You bet I am."

With the reassurance of the thief, Jaune stood up, grabbed Roman by the shoulders, and teleported, leaving the room empty except for a large cloud of smoke.

At the same time, Neo smirked before she seemed to break apart where she sat on the couch, leaving the Safe House completely empty.

Meanwhile, outside a remote base in Atlas, a cloud of smoke appeared in a dense forest as an airship approached overhead containing three special individuals.

The first was General James Ironwood. Most would consider him to be the biggest threat to the operation, but in this case, he was being used as nothing more than a statement.

The second was Specialist Winter Schnee, oldest child of the current Schnee generation. Normally, that name brought either respect or absolute hatred. Now, it was a means to an end.

The third and final person that actually mattered was Penny Polendina. Atlas's secret weapon in the form of an innocent teenage girl.

The three individuals in the smoke, meanwhile, smirked at each other as the airship touched the ground. Over the noise of the engines, the Arkham Knight's voice rang out.

"Now!"

With the simple command, the three thieves sprinted towards the airship, ready to do everything in their power to achieve their objectives.

Nothing would stand in their way.


	7. Priorities

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. This was originally supposed to be a little longer, but I sacrificed some length so I could at least get something out.**

* * *

When James Ironwood first heard the motion alarms go off on his airship, he naturally assumed that it was a few rogue Grimm wandering the forest. It wasn't uncommon in this sector, but it still wasn't a threat to take lightly.

He pulled out his gun, nodding to Winter to take out her rapier as well. Penny stayed to the side, obedient as always. Despite her claims to be 'combat ready', Ironwood never took any chances, especially with the most expensive piece of equipment in the entire Atlas armada.

His ten-man escort, rarely needed for a man with Ironwood's skills, all grabbed their weapons from the rack and got into their positions without a single word exchanged between them. Three rows of three were in front of Ironwood almost immediately, with the soldier of the highest rank stood beside him. Winter was on his other side, while Penny had retreated to the back.

When the soldiers had all stopped moving, signaling they were ready, Ironwood gestured to Penny to open the door. She did so, and the large cargo door slowly descended until it met the snowy forest ground.

For a few moments, it was completely silent, with the Atlas soldiers only able to hear and see the forest, until everything went off.

Three gunshots could be heard from a distance, far enough away that Ironwood almost thought they were unrelated to them. Until the three soldiers at the front of the formation started to freeze solid, at least.

His three point men all grabbed at their chests in pain as ice started to spread from sudden bullet holes, eventually covering their entire chests and backs before it spread to their arms, with the soldiers screaming the whole time. One turned around to show the look of pure terror on his face as they all finally froze completely.

The entire ordeal lasted only a few seconds. The rest of the soldiers didn't even have time to properly react before there were two men rapidly approaching their airship. Even if he had never seen them in person, it was easy to recognize the two most famous thieves in Remnant.

Roman Torchwick and the man that could only be the Arkham Knight.

Even if there was not a lot of time, Ironwood was still able to realize what the shots had been for. After all, if this Arkham Knight could kill all of his men with one shot each, why hadn't he done it already?

The only answer was fear. He wanted to scare them, not kill them.

It wasn't going to work. Ironwood had been General far too long to let an average thief frighten him.

Torchwick came in front, firing two shots from his cane. In the tight space, only one soldier was able to dive out of the way of the blast, and the other two were blasted into opposite walls. The last soldier got up and was ready to fire, but a shot to the kneecap blasted his aura and brought him to the ground.

The Knight and Torchwick ran up the ramp to the three remaining soldiers, who didn't hesitate to begin firing. Unfortunately, with the scare tactic of the frozen soldiers, they were terrified, and that, plus the arrogance that their bullets would be enough to stop the thieves, was enough to leave them completely unprepared when they made contact.

Torchwick ducked to avoid the bullets before smashing his cane into the soldier on his right, briefly bringing him down. The soldier was stronger than expected, though, and soon he and Ironwood's personal guard teamed up to take him down.

The Knight, meanwhile, ran through the remaining two soldiers. Literally.

With a combination of pure strength and demonic energy, the Knight reached the soldiers and shoved his arms straight through their chests. The soldiers both gave one final shuddering breath before they went limp and the Knight dropped them to the floor.

When the Knight looked up, Ironwood couldn't stop the small shudder of fear that ran through him, but Ozpin had already warned him that this would happen. The demonic energy flowing through the demon in front of him had many passive effects, and fear was one of them, so with the warning, Ironwood was able to calm himself. He didn't have enough time to check on Winter, but he hoped she could do the same.

"James Ironwood." The voice was clearly electronically modified, so the voice was completely unrecognizable. "For too long, you and your army have been on your high horse of arrogance and intolerance. It's time for you to learn your proper place."

Ironwood chuckled. He simply couldn't believe that a thief from Vale believed that he could take on the General of the Atlas military. However, despite the clear arrogance, he was still wary: anyone worthy enough in Salem's eyes to receive demonic energy was a threat regardless of their status.

Ironwood kept his stance with both hands behind his back to act relaxed while stealthily grabbing his hand cannon. He gave a chuckle to keep up the image. "Go ahead, thief. This is apparently personal, after all."

The Knight gave a chuckle of his own before very noticeably grabbing his own guns. "We both know your minion here would never stay out of it."

Ironwood dropped the facade and pulled his gun out at the mention of Winter, who was now fuming as she aimed her rapier. "It's been a long time since I've encountered someone with your level of arrogance."

The Knight chuckled again, a sound that was quickly becoming infuriating, before pulling out his guns and taking aim. "It's not arrogance. It's skill."

The General and the thief ran at each other as the fight began.

* * *

Yang hung up the scroll and handed it back to Nora. She didn't even have enough energy to take it, so Ren had to take it for her.

She could understand why. It wasn't every day you were told that you either had to die or have a madman go on a rampage in your name. She couldn't imagine the way it felt.

However, she knew the decision that had to be made. "You can't go to the docks."

PRN looked up at her, surprised by the strength behind her voice. Pyrrha and Nora were still crying, so Ren became their spokesman. "Why not? If there's even a small chance that this could end, we have to take it."

This time, Ruby came to her sister's aid. "Do you really think he'll stop just because you're dead? After CRDL, after the docks, do you really think you're all he's after?"

Ren sighed. "It doesn't matter. It's a chance we have to take."

Sun and Neptune looked at each other, unnoticed by anyone. It was a look of resignation, but it had to be done.

"I agree with him."

Everyone stared at Sun, some incredulously (RWBY), some understanding. Blake recovered quickly, though, as she realized what he was implying. "Are you saying they should die?"

He sighed, wishing he could say 'no'. "I don't want it to go like that, but yes. If that's what it takes to get rid of the Arkham Knight, they should do it."

If RWBY hadn't been blinded by stress and anger, they might have noticed how low his voice was with resignation and sadness. They might have noticed that he was disgusted with every word. PRN noticed, as they felt the same way Sun did, but RWBY did not.

"How can you possibly say that, Sun?" Blake wasn't even trying to disguise her anger. "Are you hearing yourself right now?!"

Sun couldn't even give a sad chuckle in response. "I'm disgusted with every word, but have you seen this guy? If what you're saying about the docks is true, he took out you and Yang without breaking a sweat. He can't be hurt, he can copy semblances, and his attacks go through our auras. Do you honestly think we stand a chance against him? Even Ozpin is nervous!"

"That doesn't mean that we should be willing to let our friends die! What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies?!"

"I'm not their leader!"

That gave Blake pause. Taking a second to calm her head, she began to think over his words. Weiss, on the other hand, didn't take that pause and instead took Blake's place. "You're truly despicable if you're willing to sacrifice your friends without remorse like this."

"Do you really think I have no remorse?!" Now, Sun was angry. He'd tried to keep his emotions in check, but implying that he didn't care if his friends died was the last straw. "I'm not saying this because I want anyone to die. I'm saying this because I have a team to look out for. They have to come first no matter what."

He knew he was no longer welcome in the room, so he looked at Ren to make his final point. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't believe me, but I am. But I have a team. It's my job to make sure they're safe. If you dying is what that'll take, then I'm sorry, but I have no choice but to agree."

With his final piece said, he opened the door and walked out. Neptune stayed for only a second longer before looking at Weiss and walking out as well. Weiss, stunned by all that had happened, didn't call out or follow.

If they had stayed for only a second longer, they would have seen Ren bow his head. In resignation or respect, even he didn't know.

PRN couldn't stand to be in there any longer as well. Not even bothering to mumble an excuse, they left, going across the hall to their own room and locking the door behind them. Ruby made to follow, but Yang held her back and shook her head. There was nothing they could do at the moment.

The silence in their room was palpable. So much had happened in only a few short minutes; it was a lot to take in all at once. Finally, though, Yang spoke up again, repeating what she'd said earlier.

"We can't let them go to the docks."

* * *

Roman had Huntsman level training: the fact that those two average soldiers had thought they could hold him back at all was laughable.

It was only too easy to duck one of them, trip him with his cane, and hit the other one in the side in the same motion. When that soldier flinched momentarily, he grabbed his gun and bashed the soldier's head with it. He went down immediately. With a single swish of the cane's head, the soldier on the ground was also knocked out.

If this was Atlas's finest, Ironwood really needed to step up his training procedures.

The Arkham Knight did not disappoint with his planning. Looking up from the two soldiers, he could see he'd stalled just long enough for him to join the fight while Ironwood was distracted. He knew that sneaking a hit on the General was impossible, so he did the next best thing. He got a running start and slid on the floor between them, heading straight for the Schnee.

Ironwood glanced down at the sliding thief, preparing to shoot him, but the Knight took advantage of the brief distraction and roundhouse kicked him in the chest. Ironwood took a step back from the unexpected hit, but recovered quickly and stood his ground.

Roman swung his cane upwards as Winter swung her rapier down, making their weapons clash between them. Using the single second with their weapons together to stand up, Roman glared at Winter before releasing the clash and swinging again.

Ironwood fired three shots in quick succession from his hand cannon, and watched as the Arkham Knight simply took the hits without reacting. If anything, it seemed to give him what looked like a fire.

That was because, as the General realized almost immediately, there was a literal black fire surrounding his body. It didn't take long to realize what was happening.

 _Xiao Long. He really can copy semblances._

Now knowing that the hand cannon would only hinder his chances, he holstered it and prepared himself for hand to hand combat. Channeling his aura, he rushed the Knight.

Roman and Winter were moving at speeds that too fast for the average person to see, his cane clashing with her rapier with every movement. Winter couldn't help but feel uneasy; not because of the fight itself, but because of Roman's behavior. He didn't seem to be putting in all his energy, and it allowed her to get hits that she shouldn't have. It didn't make sense.

The Knight and Ironwood, likewise, were moving far too fast for any civilian to comprehend as their fists and legs flew as fast as possible. Unfortunately, both were on equal footing: for every punch or kick, the other would dodge and retaliate immediately.

Luckily for the thieves, the fight didn't have to last long.

With a cry of pain from the cockpit of the airship, one that both Winter and Ironwood recognized and dreaded hearing, both Atlas officials were distracted for just long enough for the thieves to get the upper hand.

Ironwood may have only been distracted for a single second, but in that single second, the Knight tripped him to the floor. Just before he hit the ground though, he grabbed the General's prosthetic arm, planted his foot against his back, and kicked hard enough to rip the arm out of the socket for the second time.

Ironwood screamed as he flew towards the cockpit, slamming into the wall - right next to Penny, who'd been stabbed through and through by a previously unseen Neo.

In a single second, the Knight caught up to Ironwood and kicked him again, a loud crack emanating from his back as he felt his ribs break. Even with his aura trying to heal them, the Knight was relentless, kicking him on the floor until he felt his aura finally break.

With his aura broken, he took stock of his injuries. Mentally counting multiple broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken nose, and a possible concussion, he didn't get to do anything else before the Knight flipped him over and leaned close to him.

Merely standing over him for a few seconds, the Knight suddenly stood up and fired a single shot out of the airship before crouching back down and saying "First you, then Vale."

Ironwood only had a single second to comprehend that before he was finally knocked out.

Roman, meanwhile, took advantage of the brief distraction by tripping Winter with his cane, but the Schnee was quick, planting a glyph under Roman as she fell. He was sent flying out of the airship before he could even move a muscle.

Barely recovering on the snowy ground outside, Roman stood up and held his cane up as Winter shot out faster than a bullet, trying to stab him with her rapier but only managing to clash weapons with him once more.

Not bothering to wait this time, Winter immediately started slashing at the thief, who took all the hits without even trying to block. At this point, she was too determined to win to realize how odd that was: she only thought about how badly to punish this man for his crimes against Atlas.

When Roman finally seemed to collapse from the pain, Winter started to walk forward, only to feel a sharp pain in her stomach that gave her pause. Looking down, she saw a wound that could only be caused by a gunshot. Looking back at the airship, she saw where it came from: the Arkham Knight wasn't as distracted as she thought, and had shot at her.

Before she could begin to heal herself, Roman seemed to immediately recover and smacked the wound with his cane, causing pain like she'd never felt before to flare through her entire body. She fell to the ground, but before she could collapse as her body demanded, Roman caught her, lifted her head, and stared directly into her eyes.

"Do you want to hurt your father's business?"

Her rational mind would have thought about how weird that question was when asked by a man she'd been trying to arrest ten seconds prior, but now...

His eyes seemed so strong...

All she could do was think " _of course_ ".

She never realized that she'd said that out loud, as she finally collapsed immediately afterwards.

* * *

Sun couldn't help but feel conflicted, sitting on his bed nursing a glass of the whiskey he stole from Ozpin. Despite the fact that he had no issues with his decision, he still wished it could have gone any other way.

"Nep, I gotta ask you something." The bluenette, sitting next to him with his own glass, didn't even have to look up or hear the question to know what to say, slowly and methodically to get his point across.

"Blake's gonna hate you, but I think you made the right decision. There's nothing else to do. Believe me, I'm not happy with how things went with Weiss, but we have ourselves to think about too."

Sun nodded, not feeling any better but at least knowing his friend had his back after everything that had gone wrong not four hours earlier.

"I mean, I don't want it to be this way", he began, seemingly forgetting that Neptune agreed. "The fact is that they have to be willing to take this chance for all of us. It's not just their lives being threatened here."

Neptune finished off his glass before speaking again. "Yeah, well, if the looks on their faces were any suggestion they agreed with us. They didn't want to, but they did."

Sun put his head in his hands as the reality of the situation set in all at once. "Christ, this is so fucked!" Even though there were no tears, his shoulders still shuddered. "We're asking our friends to commit suicide, aren't we? And they agree with us. I'm asking them to do something that I could never do."

Neptune gave another humorless chuckle. "Yeah, well, that's one of the many reasons why they're better than us." Sun lifted his head to clink his glass with Neptune's at that.

Any remark he was going to say was cut off by a knock at the door. Sun was closer to the door, so he got up to grab it. He looked through the peephole, getting an expression of surprise at who was on the other side before throwing the door open.

"Blake?"

* * *

With Ironwood, Penny, and Winter out of commission, Roman, Neo, and the Knight met up outside the airship. The Knight gave one glance at the Specialist unconscious in the snow before looking back at Roman. "What did you use as your question?"

Roman gave a smirk that was even more Neo-like than normal. "I asked her if she wanted to hurt her father's company."

The Knight gave one more chuckle. "Clever. She and her sister are alike that way."

With that, the final part of their plan went into action.

Neo ran towards Winter's unconscious body as the Knight ran toward's Penny's. Roman stayed where he was to stand guard. As both of the thieves reached their positions, they both disappeared with the bodies, Neo and Winter breaking apart as Penny and the Knight disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Within the Safe House, the thieves quickly grabbed a chair from their kitchen, with Neo throwing Winter's body on it as the Knight wrapped duct tape around her unconscious body (it wouldn't be enough for when she woke up and got her bearings, but for now it was just a precaution). Neo confirmed that Penny's power source was destroyed before they teleported back to the forest.

Roman was standing in the exact same spot as before, not fazed at how quickly they returned. With no words exchanged between them, they began the run to the base proper. The Atlesian army had no doubt heard about the attack on the General; they were sending all of their available units to stop them.

There was not a doubt in their minds that even if it was difficult, they would prevail over the entirety of Remnant if they had to.

 **A/N: Yeah, I ended on another cliffhanger, but hopefully this time I shouldn't take too long to get something else out.**

 **We see the beginning of Jaune's plan, as well as two major characters being kidnapped, fractures among the Beacon ranks, and the first glimpse of Roman's semblance (it's only my attempt at it, it's not like I'll ever be proven wrong, right? *single tear*)**

 **I love reviews, especially constructive criticism, so please review, but if you're gonna flame, please go somewhere else. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Betrayals

**A/N: I hate this chapter with a fiery passion, so I just am publishing it to get it out there. I apologize if you dislike this exposition chapter, but it needed to happen. Please, review!**

Sun quickly got over the shock of seeing Blake and started talking before she could. "If you're here to yell at me, just know that you can't say anything I haven't already said to myself."

Blake stepped past him anyway, entering the room with her head down. "That's not what I'm here for, I swear. I just need to talk to you alone."

She gave Neptune a glance, one that he immediately understood. Against his better judgement, he decided to take Blake at her word and assume she just wanted to talk. He got up. "Yeah, sure. I'll just be outside."

Before he made it all the way outside, though, Blake gently grabbed his arm to stop him. "I'm sorry about how things went with Weiss."

Neptune simply took a drink from his glass and said, "It was bound to happen eventually. Truth be told I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did." He sighed, looking at the ceiling. "I'll always wish her the best. She made me a better person, and I can't thank her enough for that. But if she can't trust this version of me I don't know why she trusted the old me."

With nothing more to say, Neptune left the room and shut the door behind him.

If they'd been paying more attention, their enhanced hearing would've picked out Neptune keeping his back to the door to eavesdrop.

"What do you want, Blake?"

Blake turned to Sun, getting straight to the point. "I came to apologize." Sun raised an eyebrow, so she continued. "I was so focused on what I was feeling that I didn't even think about what you're feeling. I can't imagine what it's like to have someone threatening your team."

He scoffed, but it clearly wasn't her he was angry at. "I can tell you for sure that it sucks. The worst part is when people judge you for having to make the tough decisions to keep them alive." Blake winced but otherwise didn't react. "But yeah, I messed up too. Telling them to their face that they should die probably wasn't the best way to go about this."

Blake gave an exhausted glare. "Now is not the time to joke around."

Sun gave a humorless chuckle so out of character that Blake was almost stunned. "If I don't joke about it I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm not exactly used to having someone of this caliber trying to kill me and my friends."

Blake sighed one more time, and Sun took the opportunity to speak up before she could say anything. "What do you want Blake? I doubt you'd come here just to apologize."

Blake steeled up her courage before she spoke again. "I need your help. The White Fang are about to hold a rally and I want to investigate it."

Silence. Silence. Then, a scream.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

Ozpin took off his glasses and gave James a look.

James had clearly seen better days, to say the least. His prosthetic arm was missing all the way to the socket, although it was bandaged to stop the bleeding. He had another bandage on his head to nurse his concussion, and although it wasn't visible Ozpin could imagine the bandages around his chest to heal his ribs.

In short, James had gotten in a fight and lost horribly.

Ozpin sighed before he started talking. "Let me get this straight, James. You were making a routine check on one of your bases when you were attacked by Roman Torchwick and the Arkham Knight."

James nodded.

"Your escort was annihilated, which left you and Ms. Schnee to fight the two on your own."

He nodded again.

"The fights were fairly even, but when a third person appeared, having damaged a project that you won't tell me about, you were distracted just long enough for the thieves to overpower you and knock you out."

James sighed. When it was put like that, he seemed more incompetent than he already felt. "That just about summarizes what happened. That's all I saw anyway. I don't know what they did to Winter or either of the projects they managed to steal."

Glynda scoffed from beside him. "So there is a second secret you're keeping from us?"

Ozpin put up his hand to silence her. As much as it annoyed him as well, he knew that if James was going to tell them he already would have. Instead, he got to a different point. "Why are you here, James? You had no reason to personally come to Vale unless you were already planning on it. How many times have I told you that we are not welcoming your army?"

James shook his head. "I'm not here with my army. I still believe they're needed, but today is not the day to debate that. The thieves seem to be based in Vale. We know for a fact that Torchwick is, at least, and since the Knight is working with him it's safe to say that he is too. They took Winter, and I will not rest until they are found."

Ozpin nodded, conceding both of his points. "You are permitted to participate in the search for Ms. Schnee. I understand that she is important to you. However, if I see as much as a single Atlesian soldier, human or not, we are going to be having a much different conversation. Understand?"

James held out his flesh arm to shake his hand. Ozpin shook it with no hesitation. "As your leader, I have to tell you that you need to find your soldier as soon as possible. As your friend, I have to caution you. These people have already beaten you once. If you run yourself ragged trying to find her, you will not stand a chance against them. We've lost enough people, James. The last thing I want is for you to be one of them."

The soft tone at the end surprised James, but he understood it. "I do not wish for anyone to be added to that list, myself included. At the moment, though, Winter is at danger of being on it, and I have to save her. Failing this mission is one thing that I would never forgive myself for."

Ozpin nodded, then sighed as he realized there was something else he needed to do. "We need to inform Weiss that her sister is missing."

* * *

Blake hadn't expected Sun to scream, but she recovered quickly. "I need your help, Sun. I can't stop them on my own, but together we might be able to find out what the Fang is planning."

To her surprise, though, Sun scoffed. "Seriously, Blake? We are basically on house arrest on order from Ozpin himself and your response is to leave? What is it with you constantly making everything be your fight?!"

She tried to keep herself calm, she truly did, but remarks like that from Sun of all people made her angrier than anything else. "Sun, do you really think the authorities can handle them? They're being worthless so far! The docks are proof that we need to take this into our own hands."

"You know what else the docks are proof of? That Roman Torchwick and the Arkham Knight are people that we don't stand a chance against. They were able to kick all of our asses and not break a goddamn sweat. Why do you think we can fight back against them?"

"I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about the Fang! If all goes right, they won't even be there!"

"You don't know that Blake! My answer is no, okay?! So please, just get out of my room."

Blake was stunned. She was counting on his support, seeing as she knew her team would never agree. Now, though, she truly had no allies. She started to leave when Sun whispered under his breath.

"Here I was thinking you actually meant that apology."

Feeling even worse than she already was, but knowing she wouldn't be able to convince Sun otherwise, she left the room.

And if Sun noticed the single tear running down her cheek, he didn't comment on it.

* * *

Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren had made up their minds. The Arkham Knight had promised that if they died he would disappear. They had to take that chance.

Unfortunately, their choice was taken away from them. When they got to the docks, there was no bullhead, even though one should've been there according to the schedule.

It didn't take much to figure out what had possibly happened, considering Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were sitting on a bench off to the side waiting for them.

Pyrrha immediately marched over to the three. Nora looked to follow, but Ren held her back and shook his head. This was something she had to deal with on her own.

It took everything in her to not grab one of them and throttle them. "What did you do to the bullhead? Why is it not there?!"

Weiss stood up, unflinching in front of the wall of power that was Pyrrha Nikos. "I bribed the pilot to take off early so that you wouldn't be on it."

With those words, something happened that nobody, not even her team, could have ever anticipated.

Pyrrha snapped.

* * *

Sun collapsed back on the bed with his head in his hands, wondering where it all went wrong, as Neptune came back in the room. All it took was a single look between the best friends for Sun to know that he'd heard everything, yet he found himself too exhausted to care.

Neptune sat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him as though to rouse him from a sleep. "Dude, I'm glad you did that, but for your sake I really hope that you and Blake can get past this. I don't want you two to end like this."

Sun just shoved Neptune off his bed and lied down to take a nap. He simply didn't have the capacity to think anymore.

* * *

First, her leader, crush, and best friend Jaune Arc died in a battle she could've easily prevented. Nobody would say it, but Jaune's death was her fault no matter how you spun it.

Next, after spending a year trying her best to lead the broken remains of her team, she finds out that someone is angry for what happened in that goddamn village and wants her, her team, and her friends dead.

And when she is finally ready to make the final sacrifice, the people that are supposed to be on her side, the ones she was about to sacrifice herself for, took that choice away from her.

Pyrrha Nikos grabbed Weiss Schnee by the throat with the intent to choke her out.


	9. Mental Breaks

**A/N: Guys, I'm alive. I'm so sorry that this took so long. All I'm gonna say is a combination of high school and depression is not a good combo to have when trying to accomplish anything. After this one is a chapter for Arrow, which is actually fairly close to finished. Hope you like this chapter! Reviews always appreciated, just no flames.**

* * *

Without hesitation, Ren broke his grip on Nora so she could rush forward and pull her off before Weiss's teammates could intervene. It took all of Nora and Ren's strength to hold her back as she thrashed violently in her attempts to grab the heiress. She was so angry she couldn't even focus on her semblance enough to use it.

Yang and Ruby sprinted over and pulled Weiss away, letting her catch her breath, but before they could even say anything Pyrrha cut them off. "You bitch!" Everyone there gasped in shock, even her teammates. "This was our choice, not yours! You had no right!"

Ren tried to calm her down with words first. "Pyrrha, calm down. They were looking out for us!"

Pyrrha didn't respond visibly, just calmed down a little bit. Ren and Nora let her go when she seemed to not be a threat anymore, but out of nowhere, they along with Ruby and Yang were pushed back by a black glow surrounding all of their weapons. With everyone else out of the way, she continued to walk towards the heiress with menacing eyes.

Realizing that she was still going after Weiss, Ren made a decision and slammed an aura-infused hand into the ground, sending a pulse into Pyrrha's body. Immediately, she seemed to deflate where she stood as she slowly turned a gray shade courtesy of a dose of Ren's semblance.

Pyrrha finally came to her senses as the red haze cleared from her eyes, and while she didn't feel shame she did feel regret. Not because of what she had done, but because of what she had lost.

"It would've been over."

The words were spoken in a perfect monotone that some would say was more like Ren. Weiss and the sisters were confused, but Nora and Ren were scared when they realized the implications. Ren's semblance only got rid of negative emotions to help hide from Grimm, but positive emotions should have remained. If Pyrrha had lost all her emotions, what did that mean about her mental state?

Meanwhile, the girl in question wasn't showing any emotion at all. "It would've finally been over."

Without saying anything else, she turned around and walked away as fast as she possibly could to their dorm.

Ren and Nora gave each other a look and went to follow her, but a small voice stopped them. "We just wanted to help."

Ruby had spoken. For the first time since Jaune died, the two could see the innocent, carefree girl that wanted to protect her friends that she used to be instead of the vengeful reaper that had replaced her. Unfortunately, that didn't change what Ren had to say.

"Nora, make sure Pyrrha's okay. I'll take care of this."

Nora knew when and when not to question her partner and followed the Amazon back to their dorm.

Ren took a deep breath and released a small blast of his semblance to calm himself down before facing his sister team.

Well, after this conversation, it would more than likely be former sister team.

"You had no right to do this." He started off calm. "We made our choice. What made you decide that you could take that away from us?"

Ruby clearly didn't want to speak up and Weiss was still too scared, so Yang had to take over. "It was a choice you would regret. We weren't going to let you die for some self-righteous quest, even if it meant losing the Arkham Knight. The last thing we want is to lose even more friends."

"And yet you are aware that doing this makes it almost certain that you lost us anyway, correct?"

"Why would we lose you guys? We saved your lives!"

Ren sighed again, blasting his semblance one more time. "Let me explain something to you about my semblance. It masks negative emotions so that I can hide from Grimm. Positive emotions remain. Yet, when I used it on Pyrrha, she was completely blank. In case you can't connect the dots, she has no positive emotions. Frankly, I think she viewed this as a release."

Yang slowly absorbed all of this, slightly offended by the last remark about her intelligence. "That doesn't mean she should die. We can get past this together. I know we can!"

It seemed like a minor remark, but hearing it from Yang in her false cheer when Nora had said the same thing genuinely broke his reserves. He didn't even try to mask his anger this time; it was time she heard the truth.

"I don't know what superpowers you think you have, but we can't beat him, Yang. He knows everything about us and knows how to break through our auras to kill us. We know a fake name. We can't do anything, Yang, so quite frankly us dying to save all of you was the correct choice. And after we have been manipulated by this person so many times, did you really think that having this final choice taken away from us was the best idea?"

He scoffed. He rarely showed so much emotion, but when he did he let it all out. "Your naivety and arrogance would be charming if it wasn't so misplaced. We've lost, Yang. All you've done now is take yourself down with us."

Now was the time to walk away. He already felt slightly guilty, but it needed to be said. "Do yourself a favor and stay away from us. For your sake."

Ren finally turned and walked away, leaving his stunned friends in his wake. Ruby almost had tears in her eyes, but she squashed them down. Now wasn't the time to be weak.

Unfortunately, they couldn't say anything thanks to a drunken drawl behind them. "Well, don't I just have the greatest timing. Ice queen, we need to talk."

* * *

Jaune had a scroll call to make, and it was something he was not looking forward to in the slightest.

The plan had gone without a hitch, just like he'd expected. Winter Schnee was now fully onboard with their plan, all because of Roman's semblance. It was fitting for a charismatic thief.

Essentially, Roman could hypnotize someone to do his bidding. Perfect for the slime ball criminal mastermind that he was. The only complication was the fact that whatever the end goal was couldn't be something they normally wouldn't want to do or their aura would resist it, which was where the manipulation part came in. The amount of loopholes Roman (and later Jaune) had found to get people to follow their orders was astounding.

Perfect example: sure, what Winter was going to do would damage her father's company just as Roman said it would in the Atlesian forest, but certainly not in the way she thought.

Jaune could still recall when he met Roman. It had been the first thing he did after his experience with the monster he had been imprisoned by.

* * *

The Arkham Knight may have only just started his mission, but Jaune had been ready for a long time now. He knew just who to recruit.

One of the only moments of fondness he had for his former friends was when he and Ruby had truly gotten to know each other. Sure, they had met before, but when they actually sat down to talk, it got crazy fast.

Soon, they were telling stories about their families, mostly their sisters, while Ruby had explained why she was in Beacon. Hearing that she had stopped a robbery had only increased the respect he had for her.

He never did forget the one detail she all but glossed over. Roman Torchwick.

The thief who had apparently thought he needed a bit more Dust, tried a robbery, was foiled, and then wasn't heard from again. It was also someone that Cinder had apparently thought about contacting to work with them, but her lackey Emerald had managed to convince her otherwise.

That was why Cinder was weak. When your helpers question your judgement, you put them in their place, not allow them.

Jaune wanted to test him. Not just for his robbery and leadership skills, but also his fighting skills. The fact that he had managed to get away from Ruby spoke of his potential if not his raw ability.

It hadn't been hard at all to follow him back to his Safe House (an ordinary warehouse; he expected something more extravagant) after tracking him down after another robbery the Council had to cover up. Roman was lucky that his targets were so high profile, or he would have his face plastered across the entire kingdom, but in their desperation to make everything seem okay, the Council was doing him a favor by keeping his crimes in the dark.

He made a home for himself in the rafters, waiting patiently for his moment to strike. The moment came when he got a scroll call from the supplier of his men and had to run out, leaving only a few of his thugs there to man the fort.

They never stood a chance.

He didn't kill them this time. These people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he was trying to test him, not send him a message from a rival gang. The fight was over in seconds.

When Roman came back, he stood outside without coming in. He knew something was wrong. The Knight could hear him talking to someone, but it was a one-sided conversation, so he could only hear Roman.

Either way, Roman knew he was there and was planning how to deal with him.

When he heard glass shattering behind him, he instinctually raised his arm and managed to deflect what seemed to be a parasol held by a small girl. She almost reminded him of Ruby.

Whoever this girl was, she was relentless. Without using his demonic energy, the Knight could barely keep up with her in terms of speed and the use of her teleportation.

At least he definitely had another semblance to add to his pool.

Without warning, Roman silently entered the warehouse and shot from a distance, unseen due to his attention on the girl. She broke away, while the Knight decided to try it for himself and teleported back to the rafters. He left a cloud of smoke behind instead of one of the glass clones, covering his exit while dazing both of the thieves.

Roman simply leaned on his cane and laughed while the girl did the job of looking around. "Whatever you're here for, I didn't do it! I'm an honest businessman no matter what your employer said!"

The Knight decided to continue testing him even as he stayed in the rafters. "I have no employer. I have no grudge. I wish to make a deal."

Roman laughed, but noticed Neo's subtle nod that said she'd found the guy. "You have one hell of an opener, but whatever your deal is, I'm gonna have to pass!"

Following Neo's line of sight, he quickly aimed his cane and fired a firework at the rafters. Another cloud of smoke appeared and he was forced to duck as Neo took a swipe at him, aiming at the person now standing directly behind him.

Roman stood back up and swung his cane at the attacker as Neo left a copy of herself and teleported behind him, leaving the two thieves attacking from both sides.

The Knight kept it fair and did not use any demonic energy, but he was losing. The two thieves had impeccable teamwork that even his old team simply couldn't compare to. Every hit he dodged allowed the other to get one in. Sure, he was able to get in enough hits that Roman was starting to run on fumes, but the girl was impossible to hit.

Finally, it was time to take off the kids gloves. He started using his demonic energy. After that, it was over almost immediately.

The boost the energy provided to his semblances was incomparable to any other feeling on Remnant. It was pure power flowing through his veins like blood, strengthening him and giving him the energy he needed to turn the tide against the two unexpected fighters. With two blindingly fast punches courtesy of Ruby's semblance, Roman and his partner were sent flying away.

The two got back up, ready to fight again, but to their surprise, the man started laughing. It was terrifying, almost demonic, and yet managed to somehow sound genuine through a voice modulator.

The man put down his two guns, but Neo and Roman refused to let their weapons drop. The shock of the man taking off his helmet and revealing his face, though, almost made them drop their guard.

The monster that could clearly beat them if he tried, the one who had not only figured out where they were but took down all his guards and themselves, was just a kid. Roman would be willing to seriously bet that he was a virgin. The only thing that made him look less boyish was the 'T' that had been branded on his left cheek.

Apparently the kid had been tortured at some point. Swell.

He spoke to the both of them, turning off his voice modulator. "My name is the Arkham Knight, and I have an offer that I don't think you're gonna wanna refuse."

* * *

Jaune knew for a fact that they only joined him originally because they knew he could kill them if he wanted, but now the three had actually become good friends. It certainly helped that they enjoyed the same things, like thievery, manipulating an entire kingdom, and fighting the Council.

If there was one thing that no one enjoyed, though, it was talking to Dr. Arthur Watts.

The man was as annoying as he was arrogant and narcissistic, which was almost an accomplishment when you had an ego bigger than Salem's entire fortress. Even if Jaune could admit that his skills with biology and computers were impressive, it certainly didn't warrant the constant criticism and attitude that he displayed.

Jaune needed his aid, though, if Penny were to be tamed, which was quickly becoming an essential part of his plan. Without her, his plan for Neptune would fail before it even began.

Jaune picked up the scroll, mentally prepared himself, and sent the call. Immediately, Watts's smug face took up the screen. "Oh no, I was looking forward to not having to hear your distorted voice today."

He didn't give him the benefit of a retort or playing along. "Doctor, I need a virus made as soon as possible. Atlas has created a robot that has the form of a human teenage girl. I captured her, and need her under my control as soon as possible."

Watts knew better than to attempt to antagonize him, but still couldn't keep his ego in check. "Of course, Knight. I'm glad you can see there's no one better for the task. What do I get in return for this aid?"

Jaune grit his teeth but refrained from saying 'I don't kill you'. "Salem's satisfaction in you for doing what she wants. Is that enough?"

If there was one thing that Watts was scared of, it was Salem's disappointment, and the Knight knew that. Watts didn't want to concede defeat, though, and hung up the scroll without replying.

Jaune considered that a victory in his book. Now to make sure that Roman and Neo were ready for their roles in the upcoming rally. If his predictions were right, and they always were, he would finally be able to cross one of his names off the List.

* * *

If anyone asked him what he was doing, Sun would've replied that he was thinking.

However, no one would think he really was with what he was about to do.

He knocked on Team RWBY's door.

He had been thinking about doing this ever since he had taken that nap. Seeing Blake cry because she probably thought she was alone broke something in him. It hurt enough that he had condemned PRN to their fate, but to hurt his friends like that was something he had sworn not to do.

Besides, the White Fang was under Torchwick's thumb, who was under the Arkham Knight's thumb. No matter what he wanted to believe, the White Fang was hunting him too. What was the problem with going on the offensive for once?

He had one condition, but he knew that even Blake wouldn't be stubborn enough to deny him this one thing, so he had a plan. He just needed to strong about it.

When Blake opened the door, he didn't give her the disrespect of false cheer and got right to business. "Hey, can we talk?"

She nodded and stepped aside to let him in. She definitely looked worse than before; her hair was unkempt and her eyes looked dead. She looked similar to how she was during the period the previous year when she had gotten obsessed with the White Fang.

Sun didn't let it hurt him. He felt bad, sure, but he didn't come here without demands.

Blake shut the door behind them and turned to him. "What do you want, Sun? You made your feelings pretty clear before."

Sun looked down in regret. "I shouldn't have said it the way I did. You didn't deserve that. I'm just worried and paranoid, Blake. I pride myself in knowing that I take care of my friends, and I just can't do that now. It's weird. Wrong."

Blake took a few steps closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're all confused, Sun. We don't even know what we did to deserve this. But the only way we can survive is if we stay together."

Sun finally looked up into the eyes that had captivated him since he first saw them at the docks last year. "And that's why you shouldn't run yourself to the ground trying to stop it on your own. You have support. You have friends. You can't forget that Blake. I won't let you forget that."

Blake tried to say something, but he cut her off. "No, you're gonna have to listen to me this time. When I say you need to rest, you rest. Not listening to others is what got us in trouble at the docks with Torchwick. If you can promise that you'll be willing to hear my opinions and think things through before acting, then I will help you."

Her eyes widened in shock. Clearly she hadn't expected that. "You... you'd be willing to help me?" He nodded. He couldn't do anything else because Blake grabbed him in a hug that almost left him choking. "Thank you, Sun." It was as stoic as the way she said everything else, but the hug and the head in his shoulder showed how much it clearly meant to her.

The two stayed like that for a while, not caring about the world around them. For the first time since the Arkham Knight's appearance, the two of them were able to relax and be as calm as they wanted.

Then they heard a puff of smoke and everything went black before they could react.

* * *

Watts was quick in his work, providing the virus later that day. He also sent a video briefly describing how to install the virus and repair the power source after Neo stabbed it, something that Jaune actually appreciated. The fact that Watts didn't make any crude remarks gave Jaune a theory that Salem or Hazel was watching over his shoulder the entire time, something that he could laugh about whether or not it was true.

The virus overruled the previous command to listen to Ironwood at all times, instead programming her to listen to the Arkham Knight. Watts had even programmed it to only react to his voice modulator's specific wavelength, ensuring that only he could control it unless he ordered Penny to listen to someone else.

He tested it out by ordering Penny to attack Neo, which she did immediately. Neo did not appreciate that in the slightest, but Roman couldn't help but laugh at the scene as Penny kept trying to stab a teleporting Neo. By the end of it, she was teleporting so fast that her previous clone wouldn't even be gone before she made a new one.

Then Jaune ordered her to stop, which she also did immediately while still keeping her annoyingly cheery demeanor. She and Ruby would've gotten along perfectly fine. It certainly didn't help that she didn't actually seem to know how to act like a human, resulting in Roman having to convince her to look up Valean social norms on the internet.

Finally, they ordered her to hack into their penthouse's security system and remove them from the cameras for the previous thirty minutes to test her tech manipulation. The results were beautiful.

She could do her job flawlessly. If the thieves didn't know any better, they would've thought the tapes she created were the actual tapes.

Naturally, the next step of the plan was expedited. With Penny able to fake security footage almost instantaneously, Jaune removed the final remaining variable in the plan for the White Fang rally: Sun's presence.

He grabbed Penny by the shoulders and started picturing Team RWBY's dorm. The dorm that he actually remembered with fondness, where he and Ruby sat on Weiss's bed without her knowing and ate cookies together, where he once had to save her when she accidentally hung herself from her cape, where they spent ten minutes debating pranking Yang by switching out her shampoo.

He shook himself from those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to remember old attachments.

He pictured Team RWBY's dorm and appeared in it from a cloud of smoke. He stepped out as quickly as he could and saw Blake and Sun were hugging. As bad as he felt that he had to do this, he knew that these two were a source of happiness for Pyrrha.

Therefore, they had to go.

He punched them both on the side of the head, and since they weren't expecting it, they couldn't dodge or put their auras back up. They were out from the single punch.

Jaune ordered Penny to eliminate any digital evidence of his entry and to add footage of Sun and Blake going to the bullhead to get to Vale. Making it seem like it was their fault would be the final straw in Neptune's back.

Jaune grabbed the two unconscious teens and disappeared into a cloud of smoke, appearing backstage at the warehouse for the rally. Roman and Neo were already there ready to go, along with the Atlesian Paladin they had stolen from the base with Penny.

He teleported back, where Penny had finished her job and added the fake footage. Making sure that there were no signs of a struggle left behind, he took Penny to the warehouse and established her in the rafters to record everything. He took his scroll and gave Neptune and Weiss's numbers to Penny to have her stream it live.

Finally, he returned to Roman and Neo, who were both ready to go as Winter stood in the background. As the Faunus in the meeting gradually started getting louder, the three waited for the opportune moment before they all walked out.

The three stopped for a moment as the Faunus stopped talking entirely before Roman stepped forward to begin his speech.

* * *

Pyrrha had escaped to her dorm room after the confrontation with RWBY, but only barely. It hadn't helped that Sun had been waiting outside RWBY's dorm, so she had to wait until he was let in before she could go inside.

She went into the bathroom and locked the door, double checking the lock. There was no way she was letting herself be interrupted now.

Pyrrha looked into the mirror as the events of the past day truly hit her. She had been so close to release. So close to not having to worry about the safety of her friends, the grief over Jaune's death, the threat of the Arkham Knight. All of that was almost gone.

But then RWBY had to intervene like they understood a single fucking thing about what she was feeling! As though they had a right to decide their fate!

Pyrrha could no longer cry. Now, she was angry. Furious. She had never felt this much anger in her entire life, even towards scum like Cardin Winchester. She felt like she could destroy all of Beacon in her rage.

But then, her anger dissipated as she realized what it meant to still be alive. She still had the Arkham Knight, Roman Torchwick, and the White Fang coming after her. Jaune was still dead. She still had a team to lead.

Even one of those things on their own was too much, but together?

She had already broken from the pressure and nothing had truly happened yet.

She knew what she had to do.

She took off one of the her gloves, exposing her arms. She felt a brief chill as she looked them over, just like she always did. Making her decision, she forced as much of her aura into her left arm, at the very least making sure that her right arm had no aura.

Finally, she picked up her weapon and began the first cut.

Just like always, the pain was blinding at first. With no aura, her blade cut through her skin like butter, destroying everything in its path and drawing blood every inch of the way. She grit her teeth and continued anyway.

Eventually, though, she felt the bliss that came with the pain. All the stress, anxiety, depression, and pain she felt over everything that had happened in the past year seemed to disappear. Feeling normal was intoxicating.

She kept going, no matter how much it hurt, relishing in how good it truly felt. She continued up her right arm, and when that was finished she forced her aura into her arm. She felt even more relief as her wounds closed, leaving her arm as though nothing had happened.

She started on the left arm, but the moment she made the first cut there was a knock on the bathroom door. In a panic, she accidentally sliced up her arm and groaned. It was obvious the person on the other side heard.

"Pyrrha, you've got ten seconds to open this door before I break it down!"

It was Nora.

Pyrrha frantically turned on the sink to wash the blood away, but it had caked on her arm and weapon. Normally she had more time to clean it up. Now she wouldn't even have time to get rid of the gargantuan cut on her left arm.

Nora didn't give her the opportunity. In an instant, the door had been kicked down and her weapon had been knocked out of her hand with enough force that it stuck in the wall. Before Pyrrha could even react, Nora grabbed both of her arms to hold them in front of her.

"Pyrrha, what the fuck are you doing?!" That certainly surprised Pyrrha; Nora never cursed. Not once since they'd met. Even Ren had let one slip before, but not her. "Why?! Why are you doing this?!"

Pyrrha had no fight left in her. To Nora, the sight was scary. To see her fearless leader (she stopped herself at the unintentional reminder) looking so terrified was something that she had never wanted to see. Now, though, she was taking things too far. Nora was scared to think about how long this had been going.

It was that thought that made Nora pause. How long had Pyrrha been doing this? How long had she been deciding that the only way to make herself feel better would be to hurt herself? To cut herself? Nora almost wanted to cry just from that thought alone.

Just how bad was Pyrrha hurting?

Nora gave her a hug instead of holding her like she did before, making sure to not let her leave her arms. She put her head in Pyrrha's shoulder, eyes watering as she let herself cry for the first time. How could she not see this easy-to-see pain? Rather, how could she ignore it and pretend it wasn't there?

Pyrrha didn't cry, but as she put her shaky arms around Nora, she felt white hot anger towards everyone that caused her that pain. Roman Torchwick, the Arkham Knight, the White Fang, even RWBY. She tried to steel herself, but as she heard Nora sniffle in her shoulder, she simply couldn't. Knowing that she had caused this too only made things worse.

"I'm sorry."

Neither of them realized that they both said it at the same time.

* * *

Ren was a man on a mission.

There was something he had planned to do for a long time, but the events of the afternoon only made it worse. RWBY's intervention was bad enough, but to come back and see Nora and Pyrrha hugging while Pyrrha had a large cut on her arm? It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

He knew that Nora was better prepared to deal with that, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt. Pyrrha was family, plain and simple. To see her in that sorry state was painful to him. It was the final straw out of everything that had happened.

He prided himself on his control of his emotions. His semblance may have been unlocked under horrific circumstances, but he certainly didn't mind its effects and his ability to remain calm. But there was only so much he could take before the artificial calm of his semblance just wasn't enough.

Now was one of those times.

Without either of the girls hearing him, he left the room and made sure the door closed behind him. They shouldn't be interrupted. Next, he went to the locker room. He briefly considered going to the grave, but knowing what he was going to do and the fact that Pyrrha needed the grave to talk to made him change his mind.

After entering the locker room and making sure it was empty, he marched to one specific locker. 636. Whether or not it was intentional, Ozpin hadn't given that locker to a new student after Jaune's death, so it was empty except for one thing. Crocea Mors.

It had been all they could recover from the abandoned Arkham village. Not even his armor.

Ren used the code that Pyrrha had to memorize since Jaune kept forgetting it to open the locker and take a glimpse at his former leader's weapon. It sat in there in sword and shield form as it had every time he came here. He took the weapons with a reverence that he only shared with the knife his father had gave him all those years ago that he kept under his pillow.

He sat them on the bench behind him and closed the locker. Now that his best friends' last memory was out of the way, he could let it all out.

He started slow, punching only about once every fifteen seconds, but as he continued he slowly got faster and faster. Eventually, he started coating his fists with aura, making dents in the locker as it broke under his fury. He never could tell when he started screaming, but he knew that he did at some point.

Time always seemed to slow whenever he did this. He'd come here, take the weapons out, and trash the locker in his rage at everything that had happened. With his punches and kicks infused with his aura, the locker would be torn to shreds very quickly, but the short time it took for him to break the locker apart was exactly what he needed to calm himself down.

He took the weapons with him as he left the locker room, leaving the shattered remains of Jaune's former locker. Someone would repair it; they always did. Ozpin never called him out, either, giving Ren a suspicion of who exactly took the time to make sure he could break the locker whenever he needed it.

* * *

Of all the news she could've been given by the old drunk, the news that her older sister had been kidnapped was very low on the list. In hindsight, though, it made sense. The alcoholic hated her, so why else would he talk to her except to gloat?

She'd very narrowly had a panic attack on the spot from the shock. Not the shock at her sister being kidnapped; that happened scarily often, and she could get herself out of most situations.

But this was the Arkham Knight, the unstoppable monster haunting their every move.

For the first time in her life, Weiss was scared for her sister's life.

Qrow had promised that, no matter the animosity between them, he would still give his all with Ironwood to bring her home, but as much as she wanted to believe it possible a small treacherous part of her refused to even consider it.

There was a very real possibility her sister could die and there would be nothing she could do to stop it.

She was taken out of her brooding by a knock at the door. While she silently cursed, she went to the door anyway, hoping that it at least wasn't one of her teammates after she'd asked them to leave her alone.

Instead, it was Neptune of all people.

She opened the door, not getting her hopes up (she was much too dignified for that, and besides, she understood why he broke things off) and was surprised by how shy he looked. He looked at the ground like he was afraid of looking her in the eye like the self conscious teen he tried his best not to be.

All he had to say was "Ruby told me what happened".

Of course her partner would blab to Neptune. Why wouldn't she? Weiss tried for force down any anger - her heart was always in the right place no matter what - but she couldn't help but be annoyed.

Nevertheless, Neptune didn't deserve her annoyance right now. "Did she go into detail?"

He shook his head. "Just enough for me to know that you shouldn't be alone no matter how angry I am". He looked up at her, asking her a nonverbal question. Weiss responded just as silently by gesturing inside, letting him inside the room.

When Neptune was inside, she shut the door and turned to face him. The two of them clearly had no idea what to say to each other, but at the same time neither wanted to be alone at the moment.

Neptune finally decided to break the ice. "For the record, I'm sorry."

Weiss looked up at him, shocked at the apology, but Neptune rushed to clarify. "Not for breaking up with you. Just, the way I did it was wrong. I was pissed, but not completely at you. You didn't deserve all of my anger like that."

Weiss looked down at the floor, unbelieving what she was about to do. "I'm sorry too. I made assumptions even worse than those that people have made about me before. To assume that you never changed was wrong, and I apologize."

Neptune took a second to appreciate that Weiss of all people was apologizing to him before letting out a chuckle. "Well, since we've both gotten our fuckups out of the way, think we can have civil conversation?"

Weiss laughed a little as well. She never understood how Neptune was able to constantly make her laugh. "I hope so. It would make us a bad example for everything if we couldn't keep ourselves calm just because we're in the same room together."

They both chuckled again, but neither could deny that a pity party was starting to form. The last thing that Neptune wanted was to feel sad, but there was one other thing he had to get out of the way.

"I don't regret it, you know."

Weiss looked back at him, wondering where he was going.

"Yeah, it ended. And it wasn't a great ending. But the fact is that you truly made me a better person. Before I met you, I was just a horny kid desperate for attention that didn't understand boundaries or respect. And I know I'm not much better on the attention seeking side," that made Weiss chuckle," but thanks to us I can respect myself and others now. You made me a better man. So thank you."

Weiss was truly stunned. Of course they had talked about the kind of person Neptune used to be a few times during their relationship, but that had been brief jokes. Now, this was him pouring his heart out and swallowing his pride. She really didn't know what to say.

That, of course, made Neptune a little nervous. "C'mon, Weiss. I kinda was hoping for a response here."

This time, before she could, both of their scrolls went off at once. If one of them had gone off, they would've ignored it, but both? Something was happening.

They took their scrolls out, only to stare stunned at the contact that greeted their screens.

Jaune Arc.


	10. Target Eliminated

**A/N: This chapter went through about four different drafts before I finally decided on this one. Hope you like it!**

* * *

This time, Weiss was not as surprised to see Jaune calling. Clearly, the Arkham Knight had gotten ahold of his scroll at some point to torment them even more than his presence alone did. But this time, something was even more off: the bastard wasn't calling her, he was sending her a live video.

Judging by the look Neptune was sending her, he had the same thing.

She spent a moment debating with herself what to do, but she figured that the Arkham Knight was sending her this video for a reason. As much as it was most likely designed to hurt her, she couldn't help but realize that the problems that could arise from not watching the video were just as bad if not worse than if she did.

She looked Neptune in the eyes, whether to encourage him or herself even she didn't know, and started playing the video.

All she could see was a stage that had the Arkham Knight, Roman Torchwick, and the tri-colored girl that was always with him. The one they had never managed to get a name out of. A flag in the background showed the White Fang's symbol.

It didn't take a genius to realize that this was a White Fang rally.

 _Oh my god. This is a recruitment rally. They're trusting three humans to recruit more Faunus. How much power do they have over the White Fang?_

Torchwick was standing centerstage, so it made sense when he started talking first.

"Thank you all for coming. Truly warms my heart to see the love pouring in from all of you." The crowd remained as dead silent as it had been when they first entered. "Now I know we're going to get off on the wrong foot at first. After all, you probably all want me dead. However, there's one thing we can all agree on. All of us." He gestured to his partners at that. "Humans are the worst."

 _Only humans like you, Torchwick, you monster. You and your helpers._

Even through the screen, Torchwick almost seemed to agree, gesturing to himself. "Case in point. Now before everyone's claws come out, we also have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!"

To Weiss's horror, the Faunus there seemed to start to agree with him.

"Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life! And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around, no offense to any rodents in the room."

The cheering was going strong, almost reminding her of the applause at orchestral events she had to sit through when she was younger. She could feel her fear rising with every second they yelled their support, and by the palpable tension in the room Neptune wasn't any better.

As if to make it any worse, Torchwick snapped his fingers and the white sheet behind him disappeared to form a mech.

Not just any mech, however. This one could only be designed in Atlas based on the technology she could see and she had yet to see any of Ironwood's mechanical forces in Vale, which could only mean one thing: they somehow managed to steal this mech.

Did they steal the mech at the same time they kidnapped her sister?

Could that mean...

She didn't get the chance to think any more before Torchwick was going again.

"As some of you may have heard, this right here is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my 'employer', we've managed to snag a few before they 'hit the shelves'. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine. But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?"

In response, the crowd roared. They roared louder than any noise Weiss had ever heard in her entire life. In a way, it was similar to watching the many speeches given by former Atlesian leaders. The ones that focused on the unity of their people and ensuring everyone gave what they could to their nation.

In every other way, it was terrifying to watch.

But Roman wasn't done.

"And even for those of you out there who still doubt us, who doubt our commitment to your cause, who doubt whether we value this partnership we have, we have a special gift, just for you. Maestro, would you please?"

With a flick of the girl's wrist, the curtain parted slightly and out walked...

Weiss's mind completely blanked.

Winter Schnee stepped out from behind the curtain, looking completely dead inside.

* * *

The Faunus may have already been supporting them, but this was icing on the cake.

When Winter stepped out, the roar that followed was the most satisfying thing in the world. With Roman's speech throwing everyone there under his control, he had the beginning of the army he would need, now all that was needed was his message to Ironwood and Ozpin.

To that end, Winter stepped out at the center of the stage and stood in front of the mech, staring blankly.

Then, with the Arkham Knight mouthing along the same words as they were spoken, Winter began to address the audience.

"Everyone!" Her voice managed to sound powerful enough that even though no one there liked her they couldn't help but quiet down. "I know you all hate my family with an unrivaled passion. For good reason." The admission shocked the Faunus present, stunning them to silence. "My family has enslaved your kind, forcing them into work in horrible conditions they can't possibly hope to escape, all for a little profit. We've ensured that Atlas never considered you proper citizens, showing the rest of the world the superiority of the human race. And the next generation has turned a blind eye to your suffering, choosing instead to use the name that has brought you so much pain to give ourselves the best chance we have in life. The Schnee name brings nothing but suffering to all of your kind. So yes, you hate me. It is deserved in every way."

Of course all of the Faunus were agreeing with every word she was saying. She was merely spouting the same talking points every White Fang sympathizer spewed every day of their life. Manipulating this audience was the easiest thing the Knight had ever done in his entire life. All of them were too eager to hear people who agreed with them to realize their brains were being picked apart at the seams.

Winter continued on.

"It is time that I paid for the suffering I have caused and there is only one way to do that."

It was like all their breath was sucked out of their bodies.

"Blood."

And just like that, the ravenous cheers were back.

* * *

Weiss could not believe anything she was seeing.

This... this shell was not her sister. Her sister had always felt guilty for what her father had done and was trying to change it, but she would never do anything even remotely like this, much less with Torchwick and the Knight.

She was being controlled somehow. It was the only way. Whether it was through mind manipulation or blackmail or threats, Winter was not acting of her own accord.

She couldn't think for long though. Before she could even think or register the look that Neptune was giving her, Winter was moving to the Knight.

"Would you do the honors?"

... _no. No no no no no no_

She kept repeating the same mantra in her head over and over again, desperate to somehow change the video on the screen in front of her, even if she knew she couldn't. Neptune put one arm around her, trying his best to hold her together, but she didn't even notice.

The Arkham Knight didn't even speak, simply nodding behind his mask. In only a single second, he pulled out his gun and shot Winter directly in the head.

In that moment, Weiss's world shut down.

* * *

When General Ironwood's scroll beeped, he immediately knew what had happened, as much as he wanted to deny it.

Winter's aura was depleted, which could only mean one thing.

Taking a moment to pull out his scroll and confirm what he already knew, he immediately stood up, drawing Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda to attention immediately.

He minced no words. "Winter has been killed. I imagine the Arkham Knight is at fault because her death was instantaneous. I have her last location. The Knight is probably still there."

Qrow immediately took his scroll and memorized the coordinates, repeating them to Glynda. In an instant, Qrow was flying out the window while Glynda was using her glyphs to fly out of the office as well.

Ozpin merely sighed at having to worry about another window before turning to James. "You're remarkably calm right now, James."

Ironwood sighed, already feeling his walls break. "'Right now' is the key phrase, Ozpin. It will only last for so long. Please, be prepared for when I do falter. It will happen soon and all I will be is a hinderance when it does."

Ozpin nodded, understanding what James meant even if his words were weak.

* * *

The moment that the Knight fired that shot, Neptune was holding Weiss as tightly as he could as she broke apart. Her reaction had been surprisingly instantaneous, the sight not taking even a second to comprehend.

Despite what she'd just seen, Weiss was remaining surprisingly calm, barely reacting to Neptune almost swallowing her in his arms. She stared straight ahead at her scroll, face a mask of steel, watching her sister's body fall to the floor to the cheers of all the Faunus present.

It was monstrous.

Unfortunately, they didn't even have another second to process anything because Roman continued on as if nothing was wrong.

"That's not all folks!"

Roman was enjoying it. He was fucking enjoying it.

"If a Schnee wasn't enough, we have something even more valuable. A traitor!"

In that moment, the tri-colored girl brought forth two people from behind the curtain.

Two Faunus.

Two Faunus that he fucking knew.

Blake and Sun.

In that moment, what was happening on stage didn't matter anymore. Weiss didn't matter. Her grief didn't matter. Blake didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was Sun, sitting there next to Blake with his hands tied behind his back like a sacrificial lamb. In that moment, he did the only thing he could think of.

He ran.

He ran straight out of the dorm, Ozpin's office his destination. The faster he could reach the Headmaster's office, the sooner he could be able to save his friend from whatever fate Roman and the Knight had in mind for Sun.

And if he heard Weiss's scream from the dorm, loud and full of pain that had built up over the years, he shrugged it off.

Sun was all that mattered.

* * *

Everything was going according to plan.

Thanks to the combined efforts of Jaune and Roman using Roman's semblance on the

crowd, everyone in the building was on their side, making sure to exclude Blake and Sun from their affects. Watts's virus was working perfectly and Penny was streaming a video of the rally to his targets. Winter Schnee was dead in the name of all the people her father had killed, and there was not a doubt in his mind that Weiss had seen it.

And now, it was time to put on a show for Blake and Sun.

The two were now on stage, forced onto the ground, powerless against them. The Faunus in the crowd were cheering. Roman was pretending to look sick to his stomach. Neo was off to the side ready to play her part after he was done.

Unfortunately, seeing Winter die meant that Weiss would go insane rallying everyone to find them, so it was time to move on and wrap up the rally. He held up a fist, instantly silencing everyone.

"These two are traitors to your cause! They work with the very people who oppress, persecute, and enslave you! We must show everyone that we will not bow down to what these people represent! We will not bow down to the schools, the council, the kingdoms, or humans!"

The roar that followed was deafening, which was surprising considering that not many people were actually there. He briefly wondered if this is what the previous dictators of Atlas felt like before he moved on.

"Now, I offer you a choice. Killing two students would make us monsters in their eyes. We fight them by showing them mercy!"

The roars came to a complete silence almost immediately, the Faunus confused as to why their lust for murder wouldn't be sated. Jaune smiled under his helmet, ready to bring them back.

"We kill one and spare the other!"

Sun and Blake screamed and tried to unwrap their hands, but the audience loved it. He relished in the screams, both of fear and excitement. "I leave the decision to you! In 60 seconds, I kill one of your choice. Will it be the monkey, or the cat?!"

The roar dulled as they all seemed to discuss among themselves. They were enjoying this as much as Jaune was.

The grin almost threatened to break his face in two when he realized what the crowd was starting to chant: "Kill the cat! Kill the cat!"

Roman was doing a bang up job messing with everyone's heads. Patiently waiting 10 seconds would put the final part of this phase into motion.

 _10_

Roman started giving everyone a look that made it seem as though he was sick at everything that was happening around him. He also made a show of looking at the Paladin, clearly "thinking" about hijacking it.

 _9_

Jaune gave Winter's body another glance, staring at the bullet wound. It was such a waste of possible talent, but it had to be done.

 _8_

He wondered how loud Weiss's scream was after seeing her sister being murdered, relishing in the thought of a scream so loud Ozpin could hear it from his tower.

 _7_

Neptune was probably at a loss of how to deal with a screaming and crying Weiss. Weiss liked to play the big strong woman, but she'd never known true loss. How could she when she never had anything to begin with?

 _6_

Blake was trying to escape her bonds, clearly struggling through the aura-dampening cuffs she had on her. To make it harder for her, Neo kicked her onto her back, unable to move her hands. Roman gave her another "I regret everything" look. Neo gave an equal one back.

 _5_

Sun looked terrified, but Jaune knew it wasn't out of fear of losing his life. He was scared of what would happen to Blake. No matter what animosity he had towards his fellow blonde, he could admit that he admired his ability to always look out for everyone else before himself.

 _4_

He briefly wondered what would have happened to him if his team had that same drive. Would he have been kidnapped by that maniac? Would he still be on the good path he used to believe in? Or was he destined to always become this force of Salem's power?

 _3_

He shook the thought away. The old Jaune liked to poke his head through every now and then. It was up to the Arkham Knight to keep him away.

 _2_

Sun stopped looking scared and instead started looking resolved, clearly making a plan. He gave another look at Blake, still held on her back by Neo, and whatever doubt he had disappeared completely.

 _1_

Jaune gave Roman the subtle nod that he needed to see. The plan was finalized in that moment; Roman started glancing at the Paladin more and more like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

 _0_

Exactly like he predicted, Sun finally stood himself up.

He looked at the crowd, back at Neo, then finally laid his eyes on the Arkham Knight. "Me. Make it me."

Blake looked even more terrified than before. "Sun? What are you doing?!"

Sun ignored her. It was obvious that if he talked to her, it would make him consider backing out. "Kill me and spare her. I mean, it makes sense anyway, right? Kill me, my team falls apart. It's what you want."

Jaune ignored the jeers and taunts from the crowd as much as he ignored Blake's cries. He walked over to Sun and made a show of the slow dramatic laugh. "Well, you certainly make a good argument." Then, he whispered so only Sun could hear. "Don't worry. I keep my promises. Your girlfriend will leave here alive."

He walked away from the now stoic Sun, addressing his audience. "It appears we have a volunteer!"

Blake was now openly crying. "No! Please don't! He's done nothing to you! Let him live!"

Sun closed his eyes before responding. "Blake, don't. You know I protect my friends no matter what. I couldn't before, but I can now."

"This isn't what any of them would want!"

Sun did the thing he could never do before and ignored Blake's cries. Instead, he turned his inner rage at the monster that caused all of this, the Arkham Knight. "Who are you? What have we done to you?!" At first the man ignored him, but he continued. "When you're killing me you show me your true face!"

The Knight took a moment to seriously consider that. It was a risky move. He could shout his name and Blake would hear. On the other hand, Sun thought he was dead. Shock was a hell of a drug.

He decided to indulge. He was finally crossing a name off of his List, he figured he should make the most of it.

He walked over to Blake's form, grabbing her weapon from nearby. Blake almost hissed at having someone else handling her weapon, but Neo brandishing her parasol again quieted her immediately.

He took a moment to admire the craftsmanship that Gambol Shroud displayed. It was a good piece of work for a coward who liked to keep herself away from her targets, allowing range and extra mobility. Perfect for Blake.

Brandishing the sword to the audience, milking every single moment, he walked back over to Sun, who was barely managing to keep up his strong facade. As he got closer, he watched at the fierce look on his face got more and more fake with each of his steps until he was finally right in front of the Faunus.

He took a deep breath, ready to go on. "You posses true courage. Honestly. It's admirable."

And with that piece said, Jaune lifted up the front of his mask to show Sun his true face.

* * *

Blake was more terrified than she'd ever been in her life, and she'd stared down Adam Taurus and lived.

 _I tried to keep myself closed off, terrified of what could happen if I let myself connect with others, but there he was, never letting me slip away._

The Arkham Knight, the monster that was becoming the bane of her existence, was staring down her boyfriend, intent clear. He was going to kill Sun.

And yet, it was because Sun had been brave enough to stand up for her and demand they take him instead of her.

 _Everything he did was to protect the ones he cared about._

Everything was just going too fast. One second the two of them were reconciling in her dorm, the next they were tied up backstage at a White Fang rally, and then they were forced in front of a crowd wanting to kill them. It made her head spin.

But now, Sun, the first person she dared open her heart to after Adam, the only person outside of her team who never seemed to lose faith in her, the one who always managed to make her smile, was standing in front of an unmasked Knight, terror and confusion clear on his face.

 _He always wore his heart on his sleeve. He couldn't lie if he wanted to._

His voice was quiet, shock lacing his words. "That... that's not possible. It can't be true. It can't!"

The Knight laughed, his voice still modified even without the mask.

And then, without a second to spare, he swung Gambol Shroud straight across Sun's throat.

 _His name was ironic because everyone that knew him knew how much light he brought everywhere he went._

There was a gush of blood as Sun fell to his knees, choking on the blood pouring from his slit throat. Blake honestly couldn't tell if she was screaming or not; the only thing she saw was him struggling to breathe. Nothing else mattered to her: to her ears nothing was there, to her eyes no one but Sun was there. The world didn't matter in that final moment.

Of course, Sun's Aura had to kick in eventually, but there was only so much it could do. Even as it managed to lessen the cut, it couldn't completely stop it, not if the Knight had anything to say about it.

The Knight walked around him with his mask back in place, gun aimed at the back of Sun's head ready to finish the job. Sun looked up at her, locking eyes with her one last time, and she could only barely see him form the word "Blake" with his lips.

 _I was just starting to imagine that maybe, just maybe, we could have lasted for all of our time at Beacon, maybe even afterwards._

One gunshot later and the world slowed to almost a standstill.

Blood splattered on the ground in front of Sun's stunned body, his head, fresh bullet hole in the center, immediately following it. His eyes remained open in clear terror, staring into her guilty soul.

 _It should have been me. Why did you do it Sun? It should have been me!_

This time, Blake heard her own scream, raw, feral, and filled with nothing but pain. She didn't know when someone cut her bonds, but she didn't care: as soon as she could, she went straight to Sun's body and put her hands on the side of his neck, hoping beyond hope that somehow, someway, he managed to survive.

Obviously there was no way he could have lived. Sun was dead and there was nothing she could do to save him.

Blake prided herself on her ability to remain stoic in high pressure situations, but being so close to him as he stared blankly ahead, blood pouring out around him, she broke.

She couldn't honestly say how long she cried. She could only vaguely hear chaos breaking around her, seeing Torchwick fall over out of the corner of her eyes, and hearing an escalating firefight and things being thrown around before complete silence.

All of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn't react at all, still staring at Sun's body staring up at her, but a single moment of clarity made it obvious who was standing behind her.

Professor Goodwitch was on the scene.

* * *

With how fast Neptune had been running, the sudden stop caused by what he just saw sent him crashing to the ground.

After taking a moment on the ground to frantically find his scroll after it went flying from his hands, he crawled over to it, desperately hoping that what he'd seen wasn't true.

Regardless of how stupid he looked, he could barely stand up, so when he finally managed to crawl to the scroll, it confirmed his worst fears.

Everything he'd seen was true. Blake crying over the body proved it.

Sun was dead.

His leader...

His partner...

His best friend was lying dead in a puddle of his own blood, a hole in his head and a slash on his throat, eyes wide open in terror, shock, and pain.

All the while, the monsters that killed him with no mercy were standing there, gloating, smiling, laughing like they hadn't just murdered one of the only people he cared about.

For only a minute, he could feel nothing but unrelenting sadness. Sadness, regret, self-loathing, every negative emotion he could think of hit him all at once with the force of an airship. Neptune was not one for panic attacks, but the feeling in his chest was always what he imagined one to feel like.

Then, anger took over as he grabbed his scroll and, screaming to the sky, crushed it in his fist.

In that moment, he made a promise to his friend, to the world, and to the Arkham Knight: he would avenge his brother in all but blood Sun Wukong, no matter what it took.

* * *

Contrary to what many believed, Glynda was not heartless.

The job had made her cynical, sure, but not without good reason. The amount of friends, students, and good people she had witnessed die due to senseless evil was too high to count, and that was before mentioning what had become of her former team. She wasn't hopeless, though. She hadn't broken like some people had (Raven and Qrow came to mind).

The world needed optimists like Ms. Rose, but without the realists and cynics the human race would would have died out long ago. As such, she was the black to Ozpin's white: the two of them balanced each other out and ensured the Academy and the world at large were as good as they could make them.

However, there was only so much she could take before she reached her limits. Her students were the closest she would ever have to children (she had given up on that dream when she had joined Ozpin's circle: as much as Ozpin tried to convince her otherwise, her duty to the world outweighed her personal wishes). Even those like the former team CRDL, who she couldn't help but have a certain dislike for, deserved at least an effort on her part to show them the error of their ways and make them good people.

The situation she and Qrow had walked into made her fly into a rage instantly. Qrow looked no better (but he never did so that was nothing unique), seemingly ready to kill everyone in the room.

Despite her Huntress duty to protect all life, she couldn't help but agree.

One of her students was dead. Another student was crying over his dead body. Of course she knew the two of them had been involved and that only made it worse. Ms. Belladonna had to watch her boyfriend die in front of her.

To some the fact that Sun had only been a transfer would've changed things, but it didn't matter to her. Her student was dead, and the ones responsible were right in front of her. She could do her part to avenge him.

She didn't intentionally go for any kill shots, but these monsters (she refused to validate their existence as people) didn't have auras to protect them and she certainly wasn't holding back the way she otherwise might have. If a few of them died? They had sold their souls regardless of whether their mortal bodies still lived.

Qrow had gone straight for Torchwick while she dealt with the grunts. Judging by the noises of the fight, it hadn't lasted long. She couldn't spare a glance towards him since she had gunmen shooting from almost every direction, but she knew Qrow could handle himself (as long as his Semblance didn't interfere) so she focused on her fight.

It didn't take any effort on her part. Simply putting a glyph in front of herself to catch all of the bullets, waiting for them to stop shooting in shock at what they were seeing, then returning all of the bullets back to their owners. And if a few of them flew into the crowd...

Well, they'd cheered while her own student had been gunned down. It was only fair.

The ones she hadn't hit fled as fast as they possibly could and she couldn't waste the energy needed to go after them, so she turned back around to Qrow. He had managed to take down Torchwick, who was now on the floor with his bowler hat beside him. The Arkham Knight and Torchwick's accomplice were nowhere to be seen, so it was safe to assume they had teleported out of there as soon as the fight broke out like cowards.

Qrow turned to talk to her, but a sudden sound broke through instead. Instantly, she turned towards Blake, still sobbing over Sun's dead body.

Qrow gestured to the two of them, clearly telling her to deal with it while he took Torchwick. She didn't even acknowledge him further, ignoring the sounds of Qrow sprinting out of the building with Torchwick over his shoulder.

She walked over to Blake and crouched down, putting a hand on her shoulder. She didn't react except for a minor flinch, so at least she was still able to recognize the world around her instead of completely shutting herself out.

After a moment of keeping her hand there, Blake finally turned around to look at her with bloodshot eyes and a bloodstained face. Before she could even begin to tell her anything, Blake launched herself at her professor, hugging her tightly and crying freely into her shoulder desperate for any positive human contact.

After another moment, Glynda returned the hug, letting her student cry into her shoulder.


End file.
